Perpetuality
by CucumberKun
Summary: PostGraduation Fic. While his friends are going to college or university, Katsuya is working for Mai's host club. Seto however is nowhere to be found. Katsuya is seeing the world in clichés thanks to his sister and Hiroto. [SetoJou, Kaiba x Jounouchi]
1. The One Who Makes Me Reminisce

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes:** In this fan fiction, it is assumed that honourifics are used where appropriate. Jounouchi does not normally refer to anyone with them but he will in this fic during the time he is working (towards customers). (Haha, the closest thing I can think of is when Jounouchi calls Yugi's grandpa "Jiisan".) Nobody really refers to Jounouchi with honourifics except Yugi and Yami. Yugi is basically polite to everyone and Yami is only to the ones he's not currently pissed at. Others are kind of on and off with them. _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ characters tend to get comfortable with each other pretty fast. I mean, Seto refers to Yugi as "Yugi-Kun" right in the beginning of the series. I don't think anyone calls Yugi "Mutou-Kun". Anyways, I will not add "-san" or "-chan" etc. at the end of everyone's names when they use it since I think it's weird in a fic. However, if you like them there, just pretend they are. It is assumed.

I will be using everyone's first names (not in the notes section but in the actual story) but characters in the story may refer to everyone by their last names. For example, I would call Jounouchi "Katsuya" but Mai would call him "Jounouchi". There is an exception in this chapter with one character, Matsuo. Jounouchi never learns Matsuo's first name so we don't get to know it yet.

I apologize for the amount of original characters in this chapter. I don't like original characters that much either but I need them in this fic.

A "Host Club" is a place where women can go to be served by good-looking gigolos/escorts/"hosts" (whatever you want to call them). Women pay by the hour to be flattered and flirted with and big profit comes from the alcohol that they buy during the visit. (Hot guys are nice persuasions for the finest wines.) In this fic, the "Host Club" will be a little different. It is not meant to drain women of their wealth and it is definitely not related to prostitution. It will be further explained in the fic.

Lastly (for now), please bear with this chapter since there's a lot of explaining needed before I can get into the _real_ story. It does get to it, but you have to read through the whole "current situation" things that explain things first.

**Perpetuality**

**The One Who Makes Me Reminisce**

Soft footsteps could be heard as Katsuya descended the stairs from the break room. He pushed opened the door and entered the resplendent room. The place was perfect as always—fancy red leather seats were rimmed with the colour gold and walls were artistically decorated with paintings, small fancy displays and lights, all matching the theme of beauty. There was a brilliant chandelier that hung in the center of the room above an exquisite black piano. Smooth soft music played as people chatted and giggled shyly as they dined. Everything felt luxurious. It was like another world from the outside; a fantasy people can indulge in, forget about their troubles for the day and feel important. Katsuya stared into the mirrored walls by the entrance of the overly glamorous café and straightened his bow. He then started to comb his hair and tug at his uniform, making sure everything was neat and tidy like the place he currently worked in. Katsuya was wearing a black and grey vest with three grey buttons over a white dress shirt without the cuffs folded back on the sleeves. His bow was made with a black ribbon and he wore a white apron around his waist that covered his black dress pants down to the knees. The left-side of his vest had a golden rectangular tag pinned to it with the name 'Jounouchi Katsuya' elegantly engraved in black and perfectly centered. Katsuya placed his comb back in one of his apron pockets and tilted his feet one at a time at different angles to check if his shoes looked finely polished. He was satisfied with what he saw in the mirror and was now ready to start his shift.

* * *

"Hi! Welcome to Amaranthine!" (1)

"We have a reservation under 'Mika'."

"All right. Please come this way." Katsuya smiled politely at the group of women who just walked into the café and guided them with an upright professional posture towards their reserved table. "Please take some time to read over the pamphlet with our rules." He then removed the 'Reserved' sign on the table, replaced it with a 'Hi, my name is Jounouchi Katsuya. I will be your waiter.' and handed each of them a menu before leaving to retrieve a jug of water to pour into their glasses.

"Wow, I get to spend the first two hours of my shift with three princesses."

The girls giggled in their seats as they stared up at the handsome man who just spoke, Sato Jin, one of the five hosts of Amaranthine. Jin was slightly taller than Katsuya. He had fair skin, short black hair and green-blue eyes. He was the host whom Katsuya was closest with and was proclaimed the sexiest host of the five.

Katsuya returned to the table and poured water into their glasses. "Are there anything I can get you ladies for now?" he asked as he gave them his best smile.

"A caffe latte, a caramel macchiato and a hot chocolate with extra chocolate and chocolate sprinkles on the whipped cream for now please. We still need to think about what we want to eat," one of the three girls responded shyly to Katsuya who was busy scribbling down notes.

"White chocolate, dark chocolate or regular?"

"Dark chocolate please."

Katsuya smiled again before nodding his head and leaving the three girls alone with Jin again.

It has been a year since Katsuya graduated from high school. He had been pretty much only keeping in touch with Yugi, Hiroto and Anzu. He had not seen Ryou, Seto or Ryuuji in a whole year. He knew Yugi probably still stayed connected with them though, so not all connection was lost. Life had became surprisingly busy for Katsuya ever since graduation, thus he had seen Yugi a lot less compared to before. Katsuya did give his three friends a call once a week to keep up, but the group outings they used to do together slowly dwindled down. His family's financial conditions did not help his situation either, but with time, they were slowly improving. However, Katsuya wasn't the only one who was busy. Ever since they graduated, everyone's school or work schedule were different, thus causing conflict. Yugi was going to University and also spending more time helping his grandpa run the game shop. Hiroto went to college to study criminal justice and Anzu was taking performance arts at the same university Yugi was enrolled in. If there was one thing Katsuya really wanted to do right now, it was to go to college. But he couldn't. Not yet…

At the same time when everyone started to adapt into their new lifestyles, Mai returned to Domino after a year of absence. She had promised that she'd return once she became a better duelist after the whole Dartz episode and so she did. However, her promise was not the only reason for her reappearance, she had also returned to open Amaranthine with a person she met in her travels who inspired her to do so, Kurata Masuyo. Amaranthine had been around for a little more than six months—the exact length of time that Katsuya had been working there. The first person she went to in her return was Katsuya. When she told him about her plans, Katsuya congratulated and supported her and even asked if he could work there since he needed a job. Neither of them gave up Duel Monsters over the two years; Mai still believed she had much more to learn about duelling so she still thrived to improve. Together Mai and Masuyo planned, designed and opened up a mini restaurant that was a host café in the morning and a host bar at night. The host café was Mai's idea while the bar was Masuyo's. It took a few months to get Amaranthine built and ready for business, but once it opened, the word spread rapidly and it quickly became popular. The glamour Amaranthine held was a result from Mai of course; her taste for luxury never changed.

Unlike other places with Hosts, Amaranthine, as Mai put it, existed for women's happiness. Like living a dream, people can live a life around beautiful charming men and class all under one roof. It did not exist to gauge women's money (of course it was a business so profit had to be made, but taking money from women was not her goal) and it was a strict and clean place. Hosts did not work as hosts off work hours and did not sell themselves for a night as escorts or a night of love. All the employees (except the kitchen staff who were hired by Masuyo) who worked here were personally picked by Mai who chose only the best (according to appearance, character and likeability). The host's job is only to accompany guests who had requested them; chat, drink, flatter, make sure they enjoyed their time, make them feel comfortable with the place, etc.

Although Mai created the café specifically for women, Amaranthine is really open to all genders and ages. There was no requirement to request for a host. People could simply be going there to enjoy a small meal and a cup of coffee with their friends. There was no dress code for Amaranthine even though it looks slightly prestigious; it was a place for all. Requesting a host was a choice—an appealing choice to most women and even some men.

* * *

As Katsuya approached the table again, he noticed the girls kept giggling as Jin humoured them. Katsuya was never good with women (Shizuka doesn't count), he really wondered how Jin did it.

"Are you done with that, Miss?" Katsuya glanced at her plate which only had a few peas and mashed potatoes left.

The girl gestured to her plate with a wave. "Yes—and thanks."

Katsuya took the plate off the table and then smiled when he noticed one of the three girls staring at him for the millionth time that day.

"I see Ruriko here has a crush on Katsu," Jin teased.

Ruriko blushed and stared down at the table into her empty mug.

"Shut up, Jin Jin. You're making her uncomfortable." Katsuya punched Jin on his shoulder lightly before walking off to the other tables he was catering to pick up their empty plates and to listen to their needs. Ruriko continued to blush and stare at the empty mug as her friends teased her.

"Don't worry Ruriko, we were checking him out too," one of her friends said.

"_Ohh?_" said Jin with a grin, amusement evident in his voice. "What are your thoughts? I can tease him later. Katsu's very shy." That comment just made Ruriko blush even more.

Later, Katsuya returned to Mika's table again with a clipboard in his hand. "Jin's free for the next hour as well. He has no reservations from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. But after that he's reserved. Do you want to have Jin for a while longer or are these two hours enough?" The girls looked at each other and then turned to look at Jin, contemplating the situation. Jin simply winked and smiled at them.

"Um…how much was it again per hour for a host?" It was not Ruriko who spoke this time.

"¥2000 per hour." (2)

"Yes!" the three of them said in unison, "just a bit longer!"

"All right." Katsuya chuckled. "Anything else I can get you ladies?"

"Just more water please."

Katsuya nodded, poured them more water and then left them alone with Jin again.

* * *

"_Oh!_ He has the _cutest_ buns ever! I love the way he _sways_ his hips as he caters and his smile! Definitely his smile!"

"Shut the hell up, Jin Jin!" Katsuya smacked Jin with his tray.

"Hey! Not the face! I'm a host!" Jin laughed. "He's probably the hottest waiter here yet!" Jin said in falsetto with a grin which made Katsuya glare.

"If you know what's good for you…" He raised his tray.

"Okay, okay! Jeez. They were checking you out, okay? I'm not lying!"

"Yeah well, I'm sure that wasn't what they said!" Katsuya turned and looked at the clock. "Five minutes left. You wasted our damn break, you stupid jerk!"

"Wasted? Since when is spending time with me a waste?" Jin was still grinning. "So I exaggerated a bit, it's all in the fun, Katsu." Jin reached over to stare at the clipboard with everyone's schedule on it and studied it for a few minutes. "Yuki and I are reserved for the same guests at eight? That rarely happens in this place. I thought our boss believed in being fair to customers."

"She does. No one else wants you, Jin J-" It was Katsuya's face's turn to meet the tray. "You jerk! I was only kidding!"

"Oh, sorry. Did I slip?" Jin held the tray like a shield, quickly got up from where he was sitting and ran for it.

"I'm not wasting the last few minutes of my break chasing a grown brat around." Katsuya folded his arms and stayed in his seat. "It's the only time I get to sit."

"You're no fun."

"Anyways, I heard the reserved table was a big group. Some people from some big company. That's why they asked for both hosts. There's going to be lots of people so it's okay to request for two."

"Oh. This is going to be interesting… Yuki and I have different styles. I'm the fun one and well he's…"

"Polite?" Katsuya 'helped'.

"Are you _implying_ that I'm rude?" Jin faked a shocked reaction.

"Of course not. The funny ones are never rude. They never mean anything they say."

"If you two don't stop bickering, I can be pretty funny too." Katsuya and Jin both turned to face Mai who just walked into the break room. "It's really busy down there, so get ready. With the way you two argue, hours can fly by without you realizing it. The last thing I need is a tray war like you two had last time. We can't risk bruises on your faces." The two boys grinned at each other.

"Yes, Mom. But Katsu started it," Jin said in falsetto again.

"Did not. Jin Jin started it."

"My humour level is increasing by the second," Mai stated along with a chuckle and then placed her hands on her hips in an attempt to act serious. "You boys never change." She smiled. The boys then started to head down the stairs back down into the café with Mai following behind them.

"So since it's past seven now, you're just going to open doors and stuff, Katsu?" Jin asked as he ran his hands down the railings, descending smoothly.

"Yeah. Greet customers, show them their tables, clean up, open doors… Those kinds of things." Katsuya ran his hand through his hair and then started to comb it again. "Hey, it's slack."

Mai placed her hand on Katsuya's shoulder when they reached the last step. "Sure you should be saying that around your boss, Jounouchi?" She joked.

Katsuya just grinned in response, earning a wink from Mai before she left towards the kitchen. The two boys then headed to the entrance of the café. Katsuya handed a broom to Jin and motioned him to sweep, only to get it handed back to him.

"I'm a host. I'll greet the customers and I'll stand here and look good. You can sweep an-" The door to Amaranthine swung open and the broom got shoved into Jin's hands. "Hey!"

Katsuya gave Jin a smirk before turning towards the group of customers, 20 of them, mostly females, who just walked in. "Hi! Welcome to Amaranthine!"

"Hello!" a bunch of them said as they all glanced around the café curiously, excitement evident on their faces. They were clearly amazed at the design of the place.

A tall man, probably in his late twenties walked towards the podium where Katsuya stood and announced, "We have a reservation under 'Ochiai' at eight."

Katsuya gave him a warm smile. "Right this way." He stretched out an arm towards the direction of their table and the customers started to walk into the café.

"Hey," Jin whispered as he elbowed Katsuya lightly while leading the customers to the designated table with Katsuya, "that guy with the long light-blue hair keeps staring at you." Katsuya scanned the crowd and found the individual Jin was referring to. "He's pretty cute. You're sure getting a lot of attention today, Katsu."

It was strange. The light-blue haired man knew that he was caught in the act, yet he continued to stare. Normally when someone catches a person staring, they'd quickly turn away to pretend as if they weren't committing such acts. Puzzling.

"I'll take over from here. Thanks, Jounouchi." It was Shindou Naoki, another waiter. Katsuya nodded in response before Naoki turned to the customers and smiled. "This will be your table." He took the reserved sign off the large table (which was really three tables combined into one) and replaced it with his 'Hi, my name is Shindou Naoki. I will be your waiter.' sign.

Katsuya turned to the huge group of customers to give them a smile and then headed back to the entrance of the café to continue his tasks. He lifted up the clipboard to mark off the 'arrived' box for the reservation under Ochiai and then grabbed the broom. 'Better start sweeping' Katsuya thought. And so, he did.

* * *

Only seven minutes have passed since Katsuya started sweeping before Mai walked over to the podium where Katsuya was scribbling away on a stack of papers to talk to him. Katsuya had been working on a bit of paper work that Mai had asked him to help her with from time to time even though he was only a waiter. He was working on them since sweeping the entrance way didn't take very long.

"Jounouchi. There's a problem and it's related to you." That definitely caught Katsuya's attention. He looked up at her with confusion in his eyes.

"What?"

"You know how the reservation under Ochiai has reserved both hosts?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there's this one customer who wants _you_ to accompany him."

"What? But I'm not a host!" Katsuya looked even more confused than before. "Whoa. And it's a guy?"

"I know. I've told him that. I even told him that you were underage so you can't be a host even if you wanted to. Since you're only 19, you can't serve alcohol or drink it. That's why you're not even serving any tables right now. But he wouldn't listen." (3)

"But, Mai, you're the boss. There are rules and laws and he can't just do this. Did he even read over the rules on the tables before this?"

"I know. I'm not letting him, and yes he did read them over. Shindou made sure of it. Anyways, you know I wouldn't let some random guy tell me what to do, but he requested that I should at least ask you first, so that's what I'm doing. If it satisfies him that you reject his request personally and it keeps trouble from starting, fine. Anyways, he said he's willing to pay triple for you and pay you even, the same amount. Also, he said he won't drink and so he wouldn't make you do it either. There's Shimizu and Sato to watch out for that so the law won't be broken." (4)

"Whoa. _Triple_? Pay _me_? Isn't it against one of the rules of Amaranthine to give gifts to hosts? Man, he's acting like he's Kaiba or something!"

"Kaiba? That thought didn't even cross my mind. You haven't mentioned Kaiba in ages. Miss him, Jounouchi?" Mai teased.

"No!"

"Anyways, I told him that too but then he said that you weren't a host so that rule should not apply to you since that's not how it was written. After that he said we shouldn't take it as a 'buying you off' kind of thing because it's a special request so it should have a special fee. As long as you're okay with it, it wouldn't matter since it means he wouldn't be violating any of our rules."

Katsuya was dumbfounded. "But I don't know how."

"You've been working here for so long and you don't know how? I thought Sato rubbed off some on you. All you have to do is accompany him. You know… Chat? Entertain?"

"Is it a light-blue haired fellow?"

"Look, Jounouchi, you don't have to do this. I kind of prefer it that you didn't. People can't just walk in here and bend rules. And yes, it is a light-blue haired fellow. He has long hair, pony tail, eyeliner, young, handsome and a very nice voice."

Katsuya shuddered. This was definitely weird. What if this guy ended up to be some psycho stalker? But the money sounded so appealing! He weighed his pros and cons in his head. Money or risk a stalker? Money or risk a stalker? He needed money. Triple the amount. ¥6000 per hour! The guy might not be a stalker… Maybe he just resembled his past lover or something? Yeah, that has to be it… Or not. If he does violate him in any way he could call the just police right? He should be fine. He will be fine. Yuki and Jin were going to be there. Yeah, He'll be fine.

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Seriously?" Mai looked him in the eye sternly.

Katsuya couldn't face Mai. It did kind of feel like he was selling himself off. "It's good pay. You know I need it…"

Mai sighed. "Well if you want to, I won't stop you. Don't worry, Jounouchi. Sato and Shimizu will look after you."

Katsuya turned to look at her and gave her a grateful smile.

"Come with me then." Mai returned the smile and motioned him to follow her.

They walked up to the table and Mai nudged Katsuya to speak.

"I will accept your offer under certain conditions…" Katsuya cleared his throat nervously.

"And they are?" The light-blue haired man really did have a really nice voice! It was kind of sexy… The type of voice that would get women dazed and make them swoon with the whole 'my legs are feeling weak' cliché. Soft… Smooth… Alluring… This only made Katsuya feel more apprehensive. What did this guy want from him?

"You must follow the other rules. No harassment, no sexual violation, no threats or other offences, etcetera."

"Okay," the light-blue haired man responded without thought. What exactly does he want? Katsuya got more confused by the second.

"Sh-should I go change first, Mai?"

"It's okay. You look nice in your uniform." The light-blue haired man answered before Mai could.

"Well, I guess I'll go then. Call me if you need me." Mai gave them all a smile. "Enjoy." And she walked off towards the kitchen again.

"Why?" Katsuya looked at the light-blue haired man unwaveringly, who stared back just the same. "Why do you want me to host you so much?"

"You just resemble my deceased lover," was his reply. "I wanted to know if you were somehow related to him and it felt kind of like fate."

Katsuya would've gaped but it might've been rude so he didn't. He couldn't hide his shock though; his eyes widened a bit. What's with this cliché drama situation?

"Matsuo came from America. His lover, Sakamoto Kazuki, passed away three months ago and after two months and a half he decided to move to Japan for a bit, where he was born, to get over it. It was then when he was hired into our company, Hayasa, as one of our programming heads since he had great experience in the field," one of the female co-workers explained.

Hayasa was a video game producing company. They generally made games for This-Game, a console system from YamamotoCorp. Their games are very popular; Katsuya even owned a This-Game and played Hayasa games on it. His favourite series by Hayasa were the Sagas series.

"I'm not related to him."

"I guessed so. I just had to make sure. There are people who do look alike in this world after all," Matsuo said with a sad smile. "Your name is Jounouchi Katsuya, correct?" Matsuo peered over Katsuya to read his name tag. "Is it all right if I just called you Katsuya?"

Katsuya nodded. It didn't really matter. After all, Matsuo was a customer who was paying a high price for Katsuya's presence. To think all of this is just so he could feel like he was with his lover once more. Even though he thought these things only happen in those dramas Hiroto and Shizuka forced him to watch, it was a bit touching that Matsuo loved his deceased lover that much.

Matsuo gave Katsuya a small smile, which seemed a bit forced in Katsuya's opinion. "Katsuya." It actually sounded kind of nice coming out of Matsuo's lips. His sexy voice and all. Katsuya scanned Matsuo's features. He was handsome, beautiful and tall—probably the same height as Seto. He had blue eyes as well, but they were lighter (the same colour as his hair). He kind of looked a bit like Seto too. Matsuo wore glasses and a black choker around his neck with the letters SK on the middle made out of some sort of metal. Katsuya guessed SK probably stood for Matsuo's lover's name. His fashion sense was different from Seto's though. Like Seto, he had his own unique fashion, but unlike Seto, it was elegant, soft and can even be considered more feminine.

Naoki walked over to their table and brought them the drinks everyone had ordered earlier before Katsuya arrived at the table. "Are you all ready to order?" Naoki smiled and started to scribble down orders that the workers from Hayasa were saying one at a time.

"What do you recommend I order, Katsuya?" Such a sexy voice.

"Um. This one is good. It's my favourite." Katsuya pointed at the words 'Perpetual Love' on the menu then realized his mistake as Matsuo looked a bit bothered. He was probably thinking about his deceased lover and it really didn't help that the meal sounded like he could never move on. "Oh my god. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It's just a good meal for steak lovers. It has a good variety of vegetables, and a special sauce unique to Amaranthine. I'm really-"

"Shh." Matsuo placed his hand on top of Katsuya's which made Katsuya flinch a bit but he left his hand there. It wasn't a big deal. Katsuya didn't know how to host and he was probably doing a bad job since it looked like Jin and Yuki were providing the other guests a much better time, so if Matsuo wanted to just touch his hand, it was the least he could do. "I'm fine. I will order this then. I trust your judgement, Katsuya."

Katsuya blushed a bit. Damn his sexy voice. Every time Matsuo said Katsuya's name it seized his attention. It stood out from the rest of the words and it kind of startled him.

Matsuo placed his order and then turned to Katsuya and gave him another one of those smiles Katsuya felt was a bit forced, hand never leaving Katsuya's. He must be really upset…

Everyone conversed as they waited for their meals but Katsuya stayed silent and watched. Jin was busy making the women around him have fun and Yuki was too. The only difference was that Yuki had a few guys drooling over him while only girls were entranced by Jin. Jin was sexy and fun while Yuki was beautiful, graceful and elegant. Matsuo was talking to a man who was apparently Ochiai, who had his arm around Yuki's waist, about something Katsuya didn't understand. Not all the males in this group were gay of course. Like many customers, they came for food and to spend time with their friends.

Naoki and two other waiters eventually brought everyone's meal, each three at a time. Katsuya felt bad. He didn't know what to do and it felt like Matsuo paid so much just to hold Katsuya's hand. That's all they were doing; Katsuya had his right hand in Matsuo's left and Matsuo ate with his right. He looked over to Jin for help but all Jin did was give him a wink as the girls around him were taking turns feeding him a bit of their drinks. That made no sense to Katsuya so he just ignored it. He needed to at least come up with a good topic of conversation, but his brain refused to cooperate.

"Katsuya," Matsuo started suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about yourself."

Well, it was a start, even if he wasn't the one who initiated it. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything about you."

"Well… I like Duel Monsters."

"You're a duelist? I'm guessing you probably own one of those duel disks manufactured by Kaiba Corporation?"

"Yeah! Kaiba always makes the coolest stuff!"

Seto really did. He always made the coolest equipment for Duel Monsters. Katsuya wondered why Seto even bothered going to high school, but he definitely didn't regret having him there. After The-Other-Yugi left, Seto started joining the gang at lunch when it rained. He'd sit across from Yugi and next to Ryou every time. He didn't act any different from before; on most days he remained silent and minded his own business. And like always, he'd get a little on the insane side when Yugi would duel with him, but this time without the gimmicks. Seto didn't like the idea of not using his duel disks but it was the school cafeteria after all, so it's duel or no duel. Yugi didn't always win, but he usually did.

Matsuo smiled. "Do you have your deck here?"

"In fact I do," he said proudly and reached into his pocket with his free hand to take it out.

"May I see it?"

"Sure." It wouldn't be another 'wahaha-Haga-throws-Exodia-off-ship' situation, right?

Matsuo was going through the cards and then suddenly stopped. Katsuya peered over his shoulder to see which card had caught Matsuo's attention. It was a magic card, Messenger of Peace.

"My sister wanted this card. If I paid you, would you sell it to me?"

Katsuya shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't do that. That card was given to me and I wouldn't sell it for the world."

Messenger of Peace was not a card Katsuya thought he would ever have in his deck. He received it on the last day of his life as a high school student. Everyone was busy taking pictures with and of each other on that day. It was a milestone for many and it was definitely one for Katsuya. After school when he was engaged in picture-taking with his friends, Seto came up to him and asked to speak with him alone (which shocked everyone by the way.) Katsuya said he'd go with him under the condition that Seto would take a picture with them. To everyone's surprise, Seto agreed after a long pause. He guessed Seto didn't want to bother fighting on the last day of school. They had to take the picture three times because Seto was glaring at the camera in the first one and Katsuya elbowed Seto in the second making him turn and glare at Katsuya. The third one was perfect though, everyone jumped onto Seto. Yugi and Katsuya used their index finger to tug the corners of Seto's lips into a silly smile. That picture was Katsuya's favourite and it sat on the desk in his room. Every time he looks at it, he'd break into a fit of giggles or smile warmly at it. Seto got really angry at them after that so he grabbed Katsuya by the arm and dragged him to the roof.

Seto made sure they were alone prior to snapping open his briefcase. Completely unaware of what was going to happen, Katsuya got into a protective stance just in case. Seto took something out of his briefcase and then held the item out in front of Katsuya and stuck it into his hand. "Take it," was all Seto said before walking off without saying another word. Katsuya told him to wait and asked for the meaning of it all but Seto left faster than a man on fire running to the nearest pool of water. He then looked down at what was in his hand and it was the Messenger of Peace card:

_You must pay 100 Life Points at each of your Standby Phases. If you cannot pay, this card is destroyed. All monsters with an ATK of 1500 points or more cannot attack._ (5)

That was the last time he saw Seto. He figured it was Seto's way of acknowledging their friendship.

"Not even for Fi-" Katsuya squeezed Matsuo's hand and shook his head.

"Not even for all the money you had in the world. I could never depart with something a friend gave me. Cards from friends mean so much more than just a good addition to your deck. When I duel, it feels like they're fighting with me, that they're there helping me and cheering me on even when they're not physically there."

Silence ensued after Katsuya's words. Katsuya could see the corner of Matsuo's lips curving upwards. Matsuo looked like he was refraining from smirking. It must've sounded dumb to Matsuo but it wasn't! Katsuya didn't think it was and his friends didn't think so either. He had learnt a lot about friendship in the past with his friends. They went through so much, met so many people and learnt so many lessons. He abstained from frowning even though he wanted to.

They said nothing more as Matsuo was trying to finish his meal. Their hands never parted. Matsuo offered Katsuya some of his food from time to time but Katsuya always shook his head and thanked him for the offer.

Naoki came over to their table to check on everyone's status. When everybody had finished their meals, Naoki took out an empty glass and asked if they wanted to take up a fun challenge. Katsuya smiled excitedly since he knew Naoki was going to do another trick. The idea intrigued everyone so they agreed. Naoki asked one of the ladies if he could borrow a bit of their punch. She kindly agreed and he poured a bit of the punch onto an empty plate. "This is an easy one. Can anybody get all the punch on this plate into the glass without touching the plate?" They all sat quietly for a bit, trying to figure out how to do it, but they soon gave up. Naoki then took a slice of orange, pierced some matches into it and then placed the orange on the center of plate with the matches sticking up vertically. He lit the matches and then placed the glass onto the plate open-face down. The liquid got sucked into the glass and the vacuum held onto the now liquid-free plate tightly. Naoki held onto the glass and flipped it so the whole apparatus sat up. The punch was now at the bottom of the glass and Naoki never had to touch the plate.

Almost everyone in the group let out a collective gasp of wonder and amazement. They were all excited and smiling. A bunch of them asked Naoki a bunch of questions about the trick, and others chatted amongst themselves about how amazing the trick they just saw was.

The only person who wasn't excited by the trick was Matsuo; he looked more amused than anything. That expression reminded Katsuya of Seto when he…

Katsuya couldn't place his finger on it, but _something_ about Matsuo really screamed Kaiba Seto—programming in the gaming industry, the physical attributes and a few facial expressions. He was like a Seto who smiled, a Seto who had a better attitude, a Seto who had a love life and a Seto who did not call him names. But then he knew that that meant he wasn't like Seto, yet he still felt like he was Seto. Perhaps he had lied about not missing Seto. It was true that he hasn't been thinking about him particularly over the year but he did feel a bit empty without having Seto around insulting him all the time. It had all fell into a daily routine in the past; he meets Seto, Seto insults him, he retaliates. Maybe he'll call Yugi tomorrow to ask about Seto. Maybe.

Even if Seto was a jerk to him, Katsuya still considered him a friend. The card Seto gave him was a sign of reciprocity. He was a friend.

An irreplaceable friend. (6)

* * *

**Notes:** It's getting there I swear! It _is _SetoJou. I'm sorry this chapter might've been too boring and seem too pointless… But thanks for reading and please do give me a review. I have little confidence in my writing abilities, so I really hope it wasn't too bad. Drawing is more of my thing. I might draw some of the original characters (and SetoJou for sure!) if people don't hate them or something.

* * *

(1) Amaranthine - _adj._ - Forever beautiful.

(2) ¥2000 is approximately $17 USD or $20 CAD.

(3) Legal drinking and purchasing age in Japan is 20.

(4) Shimizu is Yuki's surname. Shimizu Yuki.

(5) This was taken directly off the card. I personally think it's phrased oddly. Basically, all monsters with 1500 attack points or more on the field cannot attack. In order to keep the card on the field, the player has to give up 100 life points during each Standby Phase. Otherwise the card is destroyed.

(6) No, Katsuya does not have any romantic feelings for Seto. Yet. He only sees him as a friend.


	2. The One Who Poises The Clouds

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes:** Please read the notes from chapter one as well (if you haven't already done so) for they still apply for this chapter.

Jounouchi does not have an accent in the original Japanese version of _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ so I didn't give him one in this fic. I'm sorry if it might feel a bit OOC to the dub viewers. He also isn't as dumb as the dub makes him so he isn't going to be making random puns at every single thing that happens in his life etcetera. Nor will he be continually bashed by his friends when the situations are totally uncalled for like in the dub.

Lastly, as much as I dislike having random Japanese words (aside from their actual names) in English fanfics, the term "bonkotsu" and "bonkotsuya" will be used by Seto as a nickname for Jounouchi. "Bonkotsu" means "normal guy; mediocre" and "bonkotsuya" is Seto combining "bonkotsu" with "Katsuya". I would use a translation for them if "normal guy" or "regular Joe" didn't sound so dumb. I'm using it because I think it's sweet (as weird as that may sound). In the original Japanese version of _Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters_, Seto always calls Jounouchi by "Bonkotsu" but refers to him as "Jounouchi". He's the only guy Seto has a nickname for which becomes somewhat of an 'affection' kind of thing. Just think of it as a nickname (well it is) rather than a random Japanese term like "arigatou" in the middle of the fic. I will also use "mutt" and "puppy" because I love those terms as well.

**The One Who Poises The Clouds**

_Click-click-click-click-click…_

Rapid clicking of the keyboard was the only thing that could be heard in the dimly lit room. The vertical blinds were fully covering all the windows and only a small work lamp was on in the room where he sat with the laptop on his desk. His fingers danced over the keys with great dexterity, like giant raindrops pummelling against the hard ground during a great storm after a long build up of thick cumulonimbus clouds. This persisted for a while until a final loud click rang through the room as his finger met the 'enter' key.

He reached for his mug of coffee before leaning back in his seat and taking a sip of the well grounded beverage. His eyes narrowed a bit at his laptop as it was slowly loading the hacked file he wanted. When what he searched for finally appeared on the screen, a smirk formed on his features.

_Amaranthine, a refreshing blend of a host club and a restaurant established by Kujaku Mai and Kurata Masuyo. Its new style in the dining world brings delight to its customers. _

He deemed the introduction paragraph and history of Amaranthine unworthy of his time and scrolled down to the list of staff on the file.

_Kujaku Mai_

_Age: 26  
Sex: Female  
Marital Status: Single  
Outside Amaranthine: A duelist_

_Brief Summary:  
Kujaku Mai is a high-standing duelist. Her history-_

Irrelevant. He brushed through the bit that mentioned Katsuya in her profile and then kept scrolling down, passing a few more employees.

_Jounouchi Katsuya_

_Age: 19  
Sex: Male  
Marital Status: Single_

A smile crept through his features.

_Outside Amaranthine: A duelist and a paper boy_

_Brief Summary:  
Jounouchi Katsuya graduated from Domino High with average grades. He is a duelist who has improved rapidly in the past, probably due to his relation with Mutou Yugi, the Duel Monster's champion._

_In Amaranthine, he is closest with Kujaku Mai, Sato Jin, Kurata Masuyo and Sekimoto Seiichi._

Sato Jin and Kujaku Mai were people he had encountered and he knew what Kurata Masuyo's role was, but who is this Sekimoto Seiichi character? He skimmed through the rest of Katsuya's profile and found nothing more on Sekimoto Seiichi. It also didn't mention whether Katsuya was currently dating or had been dating. But he knew that unless you were someone like Mutou Yugi or Pegasus J. Crawford, no one really cared whether you were taken or not. Curious, he quickly skimmed through the profiles of Sato Jin, Kurata Masuyo and Sekimoto Seiichi.

Apparently, Sekimoto Seiichi was the top host of Amaranthine. His popularity was immense to the degree that he had _always_ been completely reserved for all his available time slots at Amaranthine. Amaranthine always had a reservation schedule for a period of three months and Seiichi was always the first to be completely booked (and very quickly too).

He took another sip of his coffee and then massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. He wondered why he was doing this; he wasn't a stalker! He stopped his massaging and reached down to touch the letters 'SK' on his choker delicately.

"Kazuki and Katsuya..." He smirked and brushed his long light-blue hair behind his shoulder and tied it up into a ponytail. It was time to get ready for work.

* * *

"Thanks, Big Brother!" Shizuka gave her big brother a giant hug and giggled as Katsuya stuffed the item Shizuka gave him in his pocket.

"Anything for you, Shizuka." Katsuya smiled and returned the hug. "Now get on home. You're crazy for getting up so early to come here. The sun isn't even out yet!"

"I know, but I knew you were going to be delivering papers soon so I won't be able to catch you. I'm hanging out with my friends later." She pulled away from the hug gently and then looked up at her brother. "You're the best, Big Brother. Don't lose it and remember to give it to her."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh! And remember to watch 'Her Grace' later! I lent you the DVDs and I want you to watch them."

"Do I have to?" Katsuya shuddered. Seriously, a drama about a chick who meets the man of her dreams by getting the heel of her expensive shoe stuck in a manhole? The so-called 'Prince Charming' just conveniently came out of nowhere when the just-so-happens-to-be-beautiful-_but_-still-single-protagonist was in trouble. The girl's life briefly ran in slow motion when she watched him cast his uncanny sexiness while saving her from the evil manhole that threatened to 'engulf' the heel of her shoe. Not the mention the hero was 'secretly' rich.

Shizuka was more beautiful than the girl in the show though, in Katsuya's _totally_ 'unbiased' opinion that is.

"Yes! Please?" He couldn't resist his sister's pleading eyes.

"Fine."

"Yay!" A giant smile (that Katsuya thought was pretty) formed on her face.

Katsuya got to see Shizuka a lot more now. The sibling's persistence eventually persuaded their mother to move closer. Shizuka was now attending Domino High like her bother once had. She made many friends and was, like always, fairly popular with her male classmates. (Though she was still pretty oblivious to their advances despite all the romantic dramas she had watched).

He smiled and waved as she started to leave. "Be careful okay, Shizuka? There are lots of large puddles around."

"I will!" she yelled as she ran off. A few neighbours peered out of their windows and glared at Katsuya for the disturbance so early in the morning.

"Sorry?" He smiled apologetically at them and waited until Shizuka was completely gone from sight before going back inside his house.

* * *

It was a pretty gloomy day. Although the sun still hasn't completely risen, anyone could still tell that the day was going to be quite dull. There was a thick layer of clouds clustered in the sky that seemed like they could be releasing themselves soon. The clouds had shed their tears heavily last night and were probably going to do it again.

Katsuya had been biking around his assigned area delivering papers to houses and apartments. He never left his paperboy job and practically had the whole area memorized now—which houses had pets, the types of trees he passed by, the designs of the buildings and so forth. He was almost done for the day, just one more apartment complex and one more block of houses. Since it was a Saturday, he had yet another evening shift, 5:00pm to 11:00pm, at Amaranthine. He usually would call his friends to catch up between his jobs. (1)

He tossed the newspaper over the gate of the house before reaching the apartment complex at the end of the block. Katsuya got off his bike and grabbed a stack of newspapers from his bag and headed up the stairs. It was the type of apartment with the doors of each resident on the outside so he had to personally go to each _Domino Daily _subscriber's door. (2)

There weren't a lot of residents at this complex who had subscribed to _Domino Daily_, so Katsuya wasn't holding a large pile of papers. Every time he reached a subscriber's door, he would double check his list so he doesn't drop them off at the wrong places.

One of the doors swung open as he was heading towards it. Luckily, it didn't smack him in the face.

"Katsuya?" a familiar sexy voice called out.

He looked up from his list and his eyes widened a bit.

_Oh my god!_ "_Matsuo_?" he shouted.

After last night's event at Amaranthine, Katsuya decided that hosting really wasn't his cup of tea. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to see Matsuo again anytime soon, but judging by this, Ra probably wasn't answering his prayers.

"Since when did you live here?" Katsuya asked, perplexed.

"Since I moved here." Light-blue hair flowed delicately as a sudden gentle breeze brushed by. "What are you doing here?" he continued and leaned a bit closer to Katsuya.

"Delivering papers. Are you going to work?"

"I came out to see if my paper arrived yet. I have to get to work a little earlier today and I like to read my paper before it."

Katsuya checked his list and compared it to Matsuo's door number. It was a regular number since the past three weeks or so. That means he had been delivering papers to Matsuo everyday!

"Yeah. Just in time. I have one for you." He only had two papers left to be delivered in this complex—one for Matsuo and the other for the person next door.

A stronger breeze came by and Katsuya's bangs slightly shifted over his eyes. Matsuo responded by brushing the bangs away from Katsuya's eyes for him, startling him.

"Since you're here, let's talk for a bit."

That made Katsuya pause.

"Uh…I still have to deliver more papers." He stepped back a bit.

"Just for a bit."

Katsuya checked his watch. Drat. He wasn't late and actually did have a few minutes to spare. He could lie, but…

"Why do you have two jobs?"

"I need the money."

The conversation died there as they both went silent. The silence was awkward, their sudden encounter was awkward and Katsuya's memories of last night wouldn't leave him alone. Last night's events with Matsuo kept rushing through his mind, especially the ones with them holding hands. It was embarrassing!

"Well anyways…I better go."

"All right then, Katsuya." Matsuo leaned close to Katsuya and kissed him softly on the cheek.

Katsuya jumped back a couple of feet. For a second he appeared lost as his brain was overflowing with jumbled up gibberish and cusses. "What the _fuck_?"

Matsuo was smiling. "You're so cute, Katsuya."

He glared. "I'm not your lover! I'm not his replacement either! And it's not fate!"

"I know. You're just cute." He was smirking now. "But you really do look like Kazuki."

"You can't just!" Katsuya was confused and frustrated. Matsuo couldn't just go up to him and just kiss him like that! They hardly knew each other! That was just wrong! He totally didn't expect that. His thoughts became disorganized as exasperation overwhelmed him. "Augh!" That was all he managed to say; the words wouldn't form and he didn't know what to say anymore. He would've punched him in the gut for messing with him like this, but 'getting the hell out of there' had priority. Besides, Matsuo was a potential customer (even if Katsuya didn't want to see him there) and violence might start unwanted trouble for Mai.

"The way you act when you're angry is similar to Kazuki too."

Katsuya gave Matsuo a final glare to make his point that he did not like being kissed by guys and especially by ones he didn't really know before turning around to leave.

But Katsuya couldn't leave. Matsuo grabbed his arm instantly to stop him. What a creep!

"Let go of me!" He struggled to break free but Matsuo only pulled him closer.

"My paper?" Matsuo's breath ran softly across Katsuya's ear, making him shiver.

Katsuya shoved the paper into Matsuo's arms, chucked the last paper at the door next to Matsuo's and then ran off.

As Katsuya climbed onto his bike clumsily and hurriedly, Matsuo noticed something glistening on the ground in front of him. He bent down to pick up the shiny object and examined it. It was a beautiful feminine silver necklace inside a small clear protective bag. The design was ostentatious; there were tiny pearls attached on carefully designed links that hung symmetrically in the middle of the necklace. Katsuya must have dropped it during the struggle.

Holding the item gently in his hand, Matsuo turned to see if Katsuya was still there to return it, but he was already gone.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Yuuugi!" Katsuya practically melted in relief, clutching the phone.

"Jounouchi! Just wait a minute, okay?"

"Okay."

"Grandpa! Jounouchi called me. Can you take over the shop?" Yugi's voice was muffled. Katsuya assumed Yugi had his hand over the receiver since the volume was softer.

A muffled 'okay' and a bunch of running footsteps could be heard over the line.

Katsuya had returned home from his paper delivering. After the Matsuo event, he made himself a snack, finished a few chores and then decided to call Yugi to get things off his chest; calling Yugi always helped him get rid of his stress. He would've called him right away after he reached home but it seemed too early to bother Yugi.

There was sound of a door closing. Deductively, Katsuya assumed Yugi had retreated into his bedroom.

"Okay. Now I'm good. How are you, Jounouchi?"

"Yugi! I'm not all right."

"What happened?" Yugi's voice reflected his worry.

"It's a long story man." Leaning back in his chair to get comfortable, Katsuya took a deep breath and then started to explain what had happened to him in the two days.

* * *

Yugi was quiet as he listened to his friend rant over the phone. He had promised not to laugh so he was _really_ trying to meet that request. However, he couldn't stop the grin that kept forming on his face. It wasn't his fault though! The way Katsuya phrased everything made it so funny!

"So…earlier today…he…"

Yugi listened intently.

"He…" Katsuya paused before forcing out the next part. "He fucking kissed me!"

"_What_?"

"On the cheek," he quickly added. "But man! He! Argh! I'm so pissed off."

Yugi was nonplussed. "He sounds creepy, Jounouchi."

There was a short pause before Katsuya answered, "Exactly! Man, it's good to get that off my chest. I missed you, Yugi."

Yugi smiled. "I missed you too, Jounouchi. Are you going to do anything about this Matsuo person?"

"I just hope I never have to see him again. _Shit!_ I have to deliver his paper every day."

Yugi just chuckled at this comment.

"It's guys like these that make Kaiba seem like a decent guy."

"Kaiba? You haven't mentioned him in ages. Do you miss h-"

"What's the _matter_ with all of you?" he spat, a little louder than he probably should've.

Katsuya's sudden outburst surprised Yugi. "What?"

"Sorry. It's just that Mai said the same thing." Katsuya growled. "I don't miss him."

Yugi laughed. "Of course you don't."

* * *

Katsuya was pacing around absentmindedly for some reason. He had gotten up from his chair without realizing it and started walking around his home. "I'm serious!" Great. How was he going to ask about Seto now?

Yugi laughed again.

"Fine…" Katsuya began, "...maybe I do sort of miss him."

Yugi stopped laughing. Katsuya figured that Yugi probably didn't expect that.

"How is Kaiba anyways?"

"I'm not sure. The last I heard of anything related to him was a month ago. Mokuba told me that Kaiba had gone to America to do some work. Something about his new house over there so he had to make sure things were okay and also there was something about wanting to work alone on a new project for Duel Monsters."

"Oh! A new release for Duel Monsters sounds cool!"

"Mokuba said he'd call me once Kaiba returns but he hasn't done that yet. He's probably still over there. It's only been a month. Mokuba doesn't know when Kaiba plans to return though."

Katsuya suddenly heard a woman's voice over the phone. "Yugi are you talking to yourself again? I thought you stopped." It was Yugi's mom.

"I'm just on the phone, Mom." (3)

"Yugi!" Another voice in the background. "Ow!"

"Coming!"

Katsuya sat there quietly listening, feeling a bit disheartened. He knew he would have to eventually get off the phone with Yugi.

"I'm sorry, Jounouchi." It really showed in his voice. "I have to go now. Grandpa needs me. I'll call you back soon, okay?"

"No worries, Yugi." He smiled softly even though Yugi couldn't see it. "Bye."

"Bye, Jounouchi!"

_Click._

Just great. It was the only time he wanted to catch up with Seto, and he ended up being away. Maybe he'll call Anzu and Hiroto now. He'd have to reiterate everything but they deserved to know. Hiroto would probably laugh in his face and then offer to 'teach the guy a lesson' for him. The thought made Katsuya grin.

He really missed his friends.

* * *

He took out his comb from his apron pocket and started to comb his hair.

"You comb your hair too much, Katsu." Jin slung his arm around Katsuya's shoulder. "A little vain?"

Katsuya elbowed Jin lightly. Where was his tray when he needed it? "No. Mai complains about it being too messy."

Jin laughed. "How typical! Well anyways, I'm leaving now. Have fun, Katsu." He petted Katsuya's head lightly. "Oh puffy one."

"Jerk. Bye." Katsuya placed his comb back into his pocket and straightened his uniform as he watched Jin leave. Lucky Jin. He had a 11:00am to 5:00pm shift so now he was off. Katsuya wanted to tell Jin about what Matsuo did too.

Mai and Seiichi walked into the break room right after Jin descended the stairs. Seiichi was starting his shift just like Katsuya but Mai was leaving like Jin. Since Masuyo and Mai were the co-creators of Amaranthine, they often took turns being the manager. Knowing Masuyo, he was probably already here; he was a hard worker. He was the same age as Mai, treated Katsuya like a younger brother and really hit it off well with Mai. Everyone at Amaranthine thinks he has a crush on Mai. He probably did.

"Before you leave, Mai," Katsuya reached into one of the pockets of his pants that was lying on a chair for Mai's necklace and found nothing. "I have…" He reached into his other pockets and still could not find it.

"What?" Mai looked at Katsuya, confused.

Katsuya glanced around the floor to see if it had fallen or anything. Mai glanced around with him, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Nothing." He took his pants and shoved it into his locker. Maybe it fell in the changing room. He scooted over there and peered in but found the door closed. Right. Seiichi was in there. He bent down to look under the gap between the door and the floor and only saw Seiichi's legs.

"What are you doing peeping at Seiichi, Jounouchi?" Mai asked, rather shocked.

"_What_?" That was Seiichi.

Katsuya blushed. "No! It's not like that. I just wanted to know if I left anything in there."

"There's nothing in here." Seiichi pushed the door open and stood in front of Katsuya with a questioning look on his face. (He was fully clothed.) If Katsuya wasn't busy looking at the floor, he would have noticed a slight blush on Seiichi's face.

Mai folded her arms. "What's wrong, Jounouchi? Spill it."

He peered around Seiichi and found nothing in the changing room. Where could it be? Did he drop it when he was with Matsuo? He faintly remembered feeling it in his pocket when he was delivering papers. Then again, maybe he just left it at home. He'll have to give the necklace to Mai next time.

"It's nothing! Really! Forget what I said." He didn't want Mai to think he lost it or something. Hopefully it wasn't lost. He feared Mai's wrath. Also, losing it would make Shizuka upset. He wouldn't want to do that to his little sister.

Shizuka had attended a dinner party that had a formal dress code with her friends last week. Prior to the event, Mai had visited Shizuka to help her match clothes and do girly things. It was then when Mai lent Shizuka one of her necklaces that she thought matched handsomely with the dress Shizuka decided to wear. It was Katsuya's job to return it so Mai would have his head if she discovered that he had lost her necklace.

Seiichi and Mai both looked at each other, confused. Luckily they decided to discontinue prying for answers and Mai left after grabbing her things and exchanging goodbyes.

Katsuya released the breath he didn't realize he was holding and relaxed his body. This wasn't a sign of a good day.

And slowly, the rain began to fall.

* * *

Seiichi was assiduously working hour after hour. He had breaks but because his popularity was so great, he was constantly on the move from table to table to meet all his reserved times and people's demands. Katsuya looked at him with marvel. It was great how Seiichi was able to do all this, but how could he keep his charm up like that for so long and for so many people? He had to be tired. Seiichi was working a day less than the other hosts but he was schooling over the summer. Watching Seiichi really made Katsuya wish he had worked a little harder in high school. Then maybe he would've been able to earn some scholarships for post secondary education. It was after he witnessed his friends develop individual goals in life to pursue, and separate into their own paths one at a time, that he felt he needed to start thinking about his own life. He felt he needed to settle down a bit and find his own path as well.

A waiter walked over to Seiichi's table to bring the customers their bill.

"Is it possible to reserve Sekimoto again?" One of the girls looked up at the waiter, pleading with her wide eyes.

"Sekimoto is booked completely for the schedules that have been released so far. If you call in on Monday, there will be a new booking schedule out for November."

It was the end of August after all. Which means there was going to be a lot of phone calls coming in on Monday.

Katsuya was watching Seiichi's table while wiping some tables. Just like last night, he stopped catering after seven. This always happened when he had evening shifts, which he only had on Fridays and Saturdays.

"We have to wait that long?" The girls looked dejected, and one of them was even pouting while playing with the side of her cup with her finger, running it along the edge back and forth.

"I'm sorry," Seiichi started, "I'd love to have you girls again. You can always come and visit me even if you haven't reserved me. Come in for a cup of coffee or something when I'm around. We might even be able to chat for a bit when I'm not tangled up with customers." He took a bunch of the paper serviettes, folded them into roses and handed them to the girls. "Okay?" He gave the girls a smile which rendered them in a trance but they nodded. They were smiling like idiots and their cheeks were flushed. Katsuya withheld his laughter at the sight. He never got bored of seeing the power Seiichi was able to emit on these customers. Was he some sort of pheromone king?

The girls finally left and Seiichi got up and stretched. They were the last customers and Amaranthine was now closed. Seiichi walked over to where Katsuya was, sat down and rested his head on the palm of his hand with his elbow on the table to support it.

He looked at Katsuya. "Jounouchi."

"Hmm?" Katsuya put the rag away and sat down across from Seiichi.

"Need a ride home?" he offered a soft smile. "It's raining really badly out there and it's pretty late."

"Do I!" Katsuya grinned. "You're so much better than Jin Jin! He'd make me walk in the rain!"

"I don't think he's that heartless." Seiichi laughed.

"Yeah right. He'd say my ass would taint his seat covers."

The smile on Seiichi's face didn't fade. "I heard from Mai that you were hosting yesterday." He suddenly changed the topic.

Katsuya grimaced. "Don't remind me." He shuddered a bit, remembering Matsuo again. "I don't ever want to do that again."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Seiichi snorted a laugh. "Mai said the customer didn't have any complaints and paid up."

"He was a creep, Sekimoto. He thinks I look like his past lover. Apparently, he's trying to get over his lover's death by moving here from America."

"Did he molest you?" Seiichi looked a bit angry.

"No, nothing like that. He did kiss me on the cheek today though." Katsuya blushed a bit, feeling a little embarrassed.

Seiichi's eyes widened a bit. "Today? You saw him _again_?"

Katsuya nodded. "I delivered his paper."

"_What_? Was it an American greeting or something?" His face had 'what the hell?' printed on it.

"No. I don't buy that kind of thing. Besides, he's Japanese so he should know that that's not how we work here." Katsuya believed that the whole 'Americans kissing as a greeting' was a misconception. It's not like Bandit Keith went around kissing people on the cheek whenever he saw them. He shuddered. What a terrible thought. (4)

Katsuya didn't notice it, but Seiichi had his fists clenched on his lap. He was frowning and was bothered by the fact that this stranger was harassing Katsuya.

"If he ever bothers you again, you can call me. I'll help you."

"Thanks, man. I will." He gave him a grateful smile which Seiichi returned.

"Anyways, um…" Seiichi began again and then went silent. He looked like he was searching for a way to phrase something.

Katsuya was waiting patiently but Seiichi never continued his sentence. Was Seiichi bothered by him 'peeping' on him earlier? "What's up? Did Jin Jin bother you?"

Seiichi shook his head. "Nothing. It's a stupid question." He got up from his seat. "Let's go before Kurata locks us in here." He motioned Katsuya to follow him as he headed towards the break room.

Seiichi was acting weird. He was never this hesitant when he was hosting. Katsuya decided to drop it, just in case it was about the 'peeping' thing.

"He wouldn't dare. He fears Mai as much as the rest of us." Katsuya ran to catch up to Seiichi before slinging his arm around Seiichi's neck. "Yay! Free ride!"

* * *

When Katsuya reached home, he was exhausted. His dad was already asleep so the whole apartment was dark. Not bothering to turn on the lights, he headed straight to the shower to prepare for the night. He'd have to look for Mai's necklace in the morning when he was rejuvenated.

Soon he was sluggishly climbing into his bed. His eyes darted to the rain that was pelleting the window. It sounded like someone was hosing down his house. He shifted positions and then closed his eyes, attempting to get some sleep. It was difficult; his mind kept drifting back to what had happened with him and Matsuo today and also what Yugi had said about Seto.

He didn't want to be thinking about Matsuo so he forced his thoughts towards Seto instead, who was the better of the two. Seto was gone for an unpredictable length of time and Katsuya wanted to catch up. After the long pent up absence of Seto in his life, he finally missed the guy. He should have called Seto after graduation once in a while or at least once to thank him for the card. He never bothered talking to Seto again, assuming Seto didn't want him to bother him. Now that he thought about it, he should've, just to annoy the guy.

He shifted in his bed again, now lying on his back. His mind continued thinking about Seto. He wondered how much better Seto was at Duel Monsters now. He wondered if Seto ever thought about him. He wondered if Seto was still an ass. He wondered if he'll ever hang out with everyone again like they had before. Like they had a year ago. He wondered…

And eventually he fell asleep, while the sky continued to empty itself like Katsuya's thoughts had, slowly diminishing.

* * *

He couldn't find it! Katsuya had flipped his home inside out and he still couldn't find it! Luckily it was Sunday, his day off, so he can afford to be searching. He had already gone to deliver all the papers in the morning and went straight back home to search but to no avail. Luckily Matsuo didn't come out today so Katsuya was relieved about that one thing. He was going to have to retrace his steps. There were so many large puddles outside that Katsuya really didn't want to go out again. But he had to.

His dad was going to kill him! The house looked like a mess!

Katsuya grabbed his jacket and headed outside. It was time to retrace his every step and that means he had to walk through his paper route and his path to Amaranthine.

It took a long time to go through the entire route. He looked through bushes and scanned every single crack on the ground. He really hoped no one had just picked it up and taken it.

* * *

Remembering the trouble he would be in once Mai finds out, he started to panic and pace around in circles. He knew he should face this calmly but the visions of himself as a stuffed turkey on Mai's dinner table scared him.

He had looked everywhere except one place, which he deliberately stayed away from—Matsuo's apartment. But by the look of things, he had to go and look since he exhausted all other possibilities. Maybe he did drop it when he was having that creepy thing happen to him with Matsuo after all. It should be safe to go now too since he was sure Matsuo left the house. He remembered seeing Matsuo head towards Hayasa by foot an hour ago when he was searching around Amaranthine. Anyways, he would never know unless he went.

When he finally reached the apartment complex, he began to scan the grounds, making sure he searched thoroughly. At the end of his hunt, he ended up in front of Matsuo's door—the very last place he was at when he was delivering papers to this complex. Unfortunately, he still didn't find anything. He was doomed! He started pacing around in circles again but then stopped himself after completing the circle for the third time. Okay, calm down, Katsuya. What would Shizuka say if she were here?

"_Sniff. I can't believe-"_

No, no, no! End thought! No! This can't be happening to him! What would Yugi do?

_Yugi stood in front of Mai with a sincere apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry I lost your necklace, Mai."_

Oh my God. Katsuya couldn't do that! He valued his life too much. His thoughts ended with Mai stomping on Yugi with her high heeled boots repetitively with a mad look on her face.

"_I'm sure Mai is more reasonable than that, Jounouchi."_ It was Yugi's voice of reason in his mind again. Katsuya shook his head. You can never be sure when it comes to women and their valuables, especially Mai!

"_Buy her a new one."_ It was Hiroto's enlightening voice. It sounded like a good plan but where would he find one that was _exactly_ the same?

Katsuya closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He again told himself to calm down. What other possibilities were there? If he had really dropped it, then someone may have picked it up. There's a small chance Matsuo picked it up. He would have to ask Matsuo if he had seen it. But it might not even be here or related to Matsuo at all. But he had to try or else he'll never see the light of day again! He secretly hoped Matsuo did pick it up, since he would be able to retrieve it then. If it were anyone else, Katsuya would be in trouble.

Since Matsuo wasn't around, maybe he could break into his home and have a look for himself. As long as he doesn't misplace anything, Matsuo would never know and he might not have to ask Matsuo if he had it. He swallowed nervously and stared at the door with determination in his eyes.

If this fails, he would just have to face Mai like a man. He shouldn't be afraid. Jounouchi Katsuya was a man of his actions. He will face his consequences if needed. He nodded to himself, motivated by his own thoughts.

Reaching into his pocket for a paper clip, he started to pick the lock. Because of his past as a delinquent, Katsuya had learned a lot of street skills. The door opened in a second and Katsuya entered into Matsuo's home. The warm air rushed past his face as he entered the room. It warmed his lungs when he took his first breath in this stranger's living room. It smelled pleasant…

Katsuya closed the door behind him softly as a precaution. He glanced around the room that was decorated quite stylishly and was hoping to find the necklace lying around somewhere. All the windows had their blinds closed over them completely and all the doors were closed. He was right, Matsuo wasn't home.

He ventured further into the living room and spotted something shiny on the coffee table. Unbelievable. Katsuya blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to check if he was seeing things. Mai's necklace was really at Matsuo's place. He didn't expect to really find it here. Well whatever, he had found the necklace so now he can finally return it to Mai.

He grinned happily to himself and walked over to retrieve the necklace from the table and tucked it into his pocket. Suddenly, he heard footsteps and a door open from further in the house. But Matsuo had gone to work! He can't be here! Katsuya was petrified. His heartbeat increased dramatically and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. This can't be happening to him.

When the footsteps got louder, he decided he should turn around and face whatever that was going to happen to him. He couldn't just dash for the door now, it was already too late. Matsuo would hear him and run out after him or call the police.

Finally, he turned around.

* * *

**Notes:** Thanks for reading! And, thanks to those who have given me a review for chapter one. It motivated me to get this chapter done.

Oh my god. The narration in this chapter is so confusing. Haha. I'm sorry.

I wonder if the rain thing was too confusing…

Ack. I know this story is slow right now and filled with OCs. I'm sorry. There's going to be a few more when it gets into Seto. Which is soon. I promise. Seto's OCs are more important though. XD;

* * *

(1) Katsuya worked as a paperboy in _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ to earn his tuition. (He had special permission.)

(2) I made the name of the paper up. I'm not sure if they ever specified what the name of paper Katsuya delivered was.

(3) Yes, Yugi has a mom. The dubbers cut her out. She gets worried when Yugi "talks to himself" (aka Atem/Yami).

(4) The whole "Americans kissing as a greeting" misconception tends to pop up a lot in mangas.


	3. The One Who Disinters The Stars

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes:** Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

Please don't get confused whenever I say "The-Other-Yugi", that's basically referring to Yami/Atem. That's just what they call him… I'm tempted to type Yami all the time, I swear. XD; Anyways, since his name isn't going to pop up _that_ much I thought I'd just stick to "The-Other-Yugi." I don't think I'd want to write "The-Other-Yugi" constantly if Yami was around a lot. That would suck.

Oh. And I spell it "Yugi" because "Yuugi" looks ugly to me XD...but "Yuugi" should be more "correct".

I think some of you are going to kill me in this chapter…

Or just think I'm really lame.

**The One Who Disinters The Stars**

"_What the_ _hell_?" Both boys shouted in unison.

Katsuya rubbed his eyes to check if he was hallucinating as the other person in the room walked towards him with a displeased expression painted over his face.

It was Seto. It was Kaiba Seto! Correction, it was Kaiba Seto with only a bath towel around his waist! What was he doing here?

"Holy shit. What are you doing here, Ka-Mnh!" Just when Katsuya was about to say Seto's name, Seto covered Katsuya's mouth with his hand firmly.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," he warned quietly, gritting his teeth.

Oh man. Seto sounded pissed.

He tried yanking Seto's hand off his face, but as always, the brunet easily overpowered him. Katsuya's eyes widened as he attempted to protest, only to have his cries muffled by Seto's strong hand.

"The question should be: What are _you_ doing here?" His eyes were fixed on Katsuya's, glaring, but he finally removed his hand.

A soft gasp for air slipped through Katsuya's lips when Seto freed him. "What is wrong with you?" He returned the glare as he responded.

"You enter private property without permission and you're demanding answers?" Seto folded his arms across his chest.

Yep. Seto was still an ass.

"Look, it's a long story but I was just looking for Mai's necklace! I thought no one was here." He didn't know if he should be afraid or not. He was glad it wasn't Matsuo who had discovered him but finding Seto here instead was confusing. "What are you doing at Matsuo's place? I thought you were in America!"

"Quiet down, idiot."

"Why you!"

Seto just ignored him as he appeared to be thinking.

"Answer me!"

The nearly-naked-CEO's frown deepened. It was evident that he just had a shower—a few droplets of water lingered on his skin and strands of his wet hair clung to his face. However, Katsuya didn't hear any showering noises when he broke in. Perhaps Seto had already finished and was drying up.

Whoa, wait.

"Why are you _naked_?" he shrieked. Well, more or less.

Seto glared again, signalling him to either lower his voice or shut up.

"I see." If Seto wasn't going to answer his questions, then he would just have to force it out of him. He frowned and then began to speak, with an even higher voice level. "WELL THEN, KAI-"

Seto's hand covered Katsuya mouth again, shooting a deadly look at him.

"What do you _want_?" he hissed quietly.

Katsuya managed to push Seto's hands away this time. "I want answers! Tell me or else I'll run out there yelling that _word_ you don't want me to say so much."

"It's none of your business."

"It will be." He placed his hands on Seto's shoulders firmly. It felt a little dumb to have to look up at him in that position. It sucked to be shorter. "Did you whore yourself to Matsuo?" He was speaking quietly now.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Why would _I_ have to whore myself out to anyone?"

Good point.

"Well then answer me! Or I'll assume you're whoring yourself out."

"No one cares about what a mutt thinks." He smirked.

Katsuya, feeling smart, returned the smirk and released Seto's shoulders, folding his arms. "Or I can just tell Yugi."

"Are you blackmailing me?" His eyes widened slightly before frowning again.

"Ka-" He stopped himself. "Something is obviously not adding up. You're here _naked_ when you should be in America and you won't let me say the K-word. Tell me what's going on!"

Seto closed his eyes, thinking again. He then proceeded to the coffee table and picked up a remote that was lying on it. He pushed one of the buttons and music began to fill the room quite loudly, but not loud enough to piss the neighbours off.

"What are you doing?" Katsuya blinked a few times, confused. Was Seto trying to block him out?

"Making sure the neighbours don't overhear us." He turned to face Katsuya. "I can answer your inquiries if and only if you promise to keep this between us. It's important."

"Of course!" Katsuya beamed. "Jounouchi Katsuya never betrays a friend!"

There was a short pause before Seto muttered something that sounded like 'Hn. Friend.'.

Katsuya tilted his head slightly, grinning. "What?"

Returning the remote back to its original spot, Seto started to leave the living room.

"Wha? Where are you going?" Katsuya started to follow him.

"To change. Unless you want to talk to me in my 'streaking nude', as you keep calling it."

"You better not be trying to run away!" He warned with a fist.

"Stop following me. I prefer to change without eyes on me." Seto entered one of the rooms and closed the door behind him.

Katsuya was grinning like an idiot behind the door Seto closed in his face. Seto didn't change at all from what he could see so far. He was still the giant dismissive bastard Katsuya knew and missed (as masochistic as that _may_ sound).

He pivoted to the opposite direction and scanned the room, wondering what he should do. He stared over at the coffee table between two very comfortable-looking couches and decided to just sit and wait. He figured Seto shouldn't take very long to slip into something.

* * *

He opened his closet and scanned over his selection of clothes. He didn't need to look flashy. He didn't want to wear something that was out of character either. He rescanned his choices and eventually decided to wear his dark-blue collared shirt and black pants.

The towel around him slipped off and pooled around his legs. He quickly dressed himself, but made sure his clothes were on neatly and presentably. When he finished, he stared at himself in the mirror and started to contemplate.

Should he tell the truth? Maybe he can come up with a believable lie instead. Something like Matsuo was his long lost cousin. No, that was stupid.

He shook his head. Lying might cause problems in the future since it was likely that he'll be seeing Katsuya more after this. He brought his right hand up to his temple and started massaging it. Why did Katsuya have to do the most unpredictable things? No normal person would decide to break in someone's house hoping to find a lost item. If this were any other situation, he would have just kicked Katsuya out the door for trespassing and perhaps even threaten to call security on him. But right now, Katsuya had seen something he shouldn't—something that he could use against him. He must ensure that Katsuya's lips would be sealed.

His fingers left his temple and began combing his messy hair. Telling the truth was the best way. Perhaps Katsuya will understand how important it was to keep his secret confidential and pretend this whole thing had never happened. No, Katsuya will keep this a secret. Katsuya knew who he was dealing with. He wouldn't be dumb enough to risk his future by messing with Kaiba Seto.

He picked up a black choker lying on the nightstand and headed towards the door, retrieving the towel that was abandoned on the floor in the process.

He didn't know how Katsuya managed to give him a headache every time. But perhaps telling Katsuya wasn't a bad idea. Maybe he could make use of Katsuya; he needed some small errands to be done after all.

Sighing, he twisted the door knob and left the room, placing the towel back in the bathroom before facing Katsuya again.

Once in the living room, he stayed silent and observed Katsuya, who was sitting on the couch studying the room just like a curious little puppy in a new environment. Seto grinned inwardly.

"Bonkotsu." (1)

Katsuya quickly whipped around to meet him, grinning like an idiot. "You're still going on about that, huh? I've improved a lot since we've last seen each other. I bet I can beat you now!"

"Doubtful." He smirked.

"Wanna try me after your explanation and see then, tough guy?"

"I don't have my cards with me."

"You serious?" Katsuya gaped slightly from the shock. "_Why_?"

"You'll understand later."

As he walked closer to Katsuya, the blond shifted positions in his seat to get comfortable, like a child getting ready for story time.

"Again, before I begin, you must keep your word in swearing secrecy. I also want you to not raise your voice."

"Okay, okay."

"I'm under a secret investigation." He suddenly began.

Katsuya stayed silent.

"It's related to Kaiba Corporation. There is a company I suspect to be plotting something against my company."

"Hayasa?"

It was a good guess, since Katsuya was probably fixed on trying to figure out how this related to him being at Matsuo's place.

"No. YamamotoCorp."

"What does this-"

"Be patient." He sat down on the couch across from Katsuya. "Do you know who the owner of Hayasa is?"

"No." Katsuya rubbed the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"Does the name 'Yamamoto Kayane' ring any bells?"

Katsuya's eyes widened a bit. "A Yamamoto?"

"Coincidental much? They're actually brothers. The owner of YamamotoCorp, Yamamoto Kenji, is the younger brother of the owner of Hayasa."

"What are you getting at?"

Seto brought the choker he had in his hand up to wrap it around his neck. It had a metal 'SxK' on it rather than 'SK'. When the choker was comfortably around his neck, he snapped the letters 'S' and 'K' together, locking the choker in place. The 'x' was hidden inside and between 'S' and 'K', leaving only 'SK' to be visible.

"What are you doing?" Katsuya blinked a few times, confusion bestowed upon his features due to Seto's random action.

Seto closed his eyes temporarily in frustration. Some things still haven't changed. Bonkotsu was still slow.

He was silent for a short while, concentrating on preventing his tone from sounding irate, before speaking. "Do you get it now, _Katsuya_?" He opened his eyes, hoping Katsuya wasn't as hopeless as he seemed.

Katsuya sat there wide-eyed and gaping. "M-Matsuo's voice!" He jumped back in his seat and clung onto the backrest. Luckily he didn't make the couch topple over as it would have given Seto another reason to be irritated. "Th-That means!" His face lit up in shades of pink.

It was so amusing to see the puppy like this. He smirked to himself.

"What's the meaning of all _this_?" Katsuya replaced his previous expression with a frown. His voice was louder but at least he kept it lower than the music.

From the looks of it, Seto probably had to explain everything from the beginning.

"Okay, Bonkotsuya. I'll tell you everything but only once."

"Got it." Katsuya's expression was serious for a second but it quickly changed into a disturbed one. "But do me a favour and _don't _use that voice." He shuddered.

"And I was sure this voice was a lot more attractive than my original." His smirk returned.

Katsuya winced. "It's weird hearing it from you." There was a pause. "How do you change your voice like that anyways?"

"This choker I invented..." Seto pressed on two mini hidden latches on the sides of 'S' and 'K' and the 'x' appeared again. The action loosened the choker, making it slip off his neck and into the palm of his hand. "...it changes my voice." His voice reverted back to his original one.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Katsuya's face lit up. "Let me try!"

"It's not a toy," he responded sternly.

"I thought that's what you did—make toys."

"I designed this for strictly mission purposes. There's a special device in the 'x' that alters my original rendered vocal output. It gets activated when it slips between the 'S' and 'K' pieces. I'd go into the details, but a bonkotsu like you couldn't possibly understand it."

That made Katsuya's frown return. "I don't care for that technical crap anyways," he retorted.

"Figures."

"Why do you have to be such an asshole all the time anyways, Ka-ahh…"

"Matsuo is fine."

Seto doubted the neighbours could hear them and it was most likely that they were out, but he preferred to be cautious.

"Whatever. Just get on with your story already."

He didn't want to go soft on Katsuya but he walked up to him and quickly snapped the choker on around the blond's neck anyways.

"Go ahead." He crossed his arms. "Play with it then."

"Uh…" Katsuya appeared lost on how he was to respond. He was trying to look at the choker but he probably couldn't see it. "What does the 'SxK' stand f-Hey! I sound like Matsuo!" He smiled brightly. "This is so cool!"

Seto grinned, proud his little gadget pleased the other boy.

"Lalalalala." Katsuya started to say a bunch of random things as a test. "Hi, I'm Kaiba! I like to eat doughnuts. Kaiba's a jerk. Jounouchi is better than Kaiba, who has a trench coat-dragon-technology fetish."

Seto grabbed the choker and removed it as quickly as he equipped it on Katsuya, growling. "If you're going to be immature, then kindly get the hell out of my house. You weren't supposed to say that 'K-word' either! You're lucky the music is on loud enough to block your insolent voice."

To Seto's surprise, Katsuya was laughing and breaking into giggle fits.

"What is your problem?"

"Well, it _was_ you." He stifled his laugh. "But, that was a long time ago. What's yours?"

Seto ignored him. "Do you want to hear the story or not?"

* * *

_It was the beginning of July. Seto was sitting in his office doing his daily paper work, not wanting to be disturbed the slightest. _

Knock knock.

_Seto peered over at the intercom screen and found Mokuba waiting patiently. Without saying anything, Seto merely pushed one of the buttons at his desk and the doors to his office swung open. It was okay for Mokuba to disturb him._

_Mokuba looked slightly upset and closed the door behind him gently. "Big Brother! Hayasa is on live right now! They're suddenly making an announcement about their new game for the next gen console YamamotoCorp is designing! You have to hear what they're saying!" Mokuba climbed over the couch and grabbed the remote lying on the seat. He pushed the red 'power' button which turned on the flat television screen that hung in the room._

_Seto looked up from his papers and watched Mokuba frantically channel surf to the right channel. "Is it revolutionizing?" he asked._

_Mokuba shook his head. "But it is related to us."_

_Seto glanced up at the screen once Mokuba found the right channel. _

"-top seller Sagas series' new battle concept is certainly amazing. When will the new game going to be released, Mr. Ochiai?"

_This live interview was already in the middle of nowhere, but Seto continued to listen and waited for the big announcement Mokuba was so frantic about._

_On live was a man who looked around 30. He was dressed in a blue business suit and his hair was combed neatly back. _

"The new Sagas series is going to be called Crystal Letter. It will be released the same time the next gen console, This-Game GX, is going to be released.

"This is so exciting, Mr. Ochiai. How do you think the competitors will feel about this news? Are you not afraid of releasing this idea out too soon to the public?"

"Ah not at all. Hayasa has been working on this project for a while and it was time to let the public know. There will be a new trailer coming out soon too. Then everyone will get the real feel of Crystal Letter."

"What about the competitors?"

Ochiai laughed softly. "I am excited as well to see what new gaming technology they had come up with. Especially Kaiba Corporation who is always rated number one in the gaming industry."

_How typical of them to dodge the question on competitors, but Seto didn't care. _

_Mokuba made a sound of annoyance and flailed his arms in the air. "Get to the point already!"_

"Oh we're already running out of time! For those of you who are joining in just now: Hayasa's new Saga's series, Crystal Letter, is going to have a new and improved battle system! The technology is phenomenal and this shows the power of This-Game GX. Its new person-player interaction brings the player one step closer to the feelings of the characters in the story."

Ochiai smiled and continued the reporter's explanation. "Our new game will be running on a new technology YamamotoCorp has invented. It will be multiplayer, virtually interactive, have vocal recognition and much more!"

"This is as phenomenal as Kaiba Corporation's Duel Monsters technology!"

_Seto slammed his fists on his desk which startled Mokuba, making him jump. _

_How can this be possible?_

_Mokuba winced. "Big Brother..."_

_Multiplayer, virtually interactive and have vocal recognition? These pathetically rookie creations were all already achieved by Seto before but those were Seto's ideas to release into the public when his console comes out! Since those pathetic 'competitors' could not come up with anything beyond a controller pad connected to a small box, he thought he'd create the first Kaiba Duel console with the aforementioned features to show the world how far gaming should be. He also wanted to do this because he was in the business world. Even though Kaiba Corporation was not in the console industry, they were still in the gaming industry, so competition was still considered competition. It would not be wise to give your competitors a lead in any way. By joining the game, you can either take away that lead or lessen it. _

_Mokuba had walked up to Seto and placed his hand on top of his brother's arm reassuringly. "There goes our two months of planning on the Kaiba Duel console. This must be how Siegfried von Schroider felt."_

_It actually wasn't exactly two months of planning on the console. It was more like two months of on and off planning on the console and the first game Seto wanted to release on the system. _

_Seto growled and glared at the television which had gone into a commercial break. "Turn the thing off, Mokuba."_

_Mokuba did as he was told._

_Seto was irritated by the fact that he wasted time planning something he couldn't release. Hell, if it was Schroider Corporation who did this to him instead, he'd be less pissed. Siegfried actually knew what he's doing and was a more worthy rival._

_He wanted to base the first game for his console system on the pharaoh Atem, his greatest rival, as well as his life. He felt like he needed to leave a mark of Atem's presence and the challenges he had been through so that he'll be forever remembered by everyone…_

"_We can't release the Kaiba Duel console now, Mokuba."_

"_Yeah…" Mokuba eyes reflected his disappointment and worry. "But that's all right, Big Brother… We still have to work on Kaiba Land."_

_That was right. Seto and Mokuba had been working hard on Kaiba Land. He did a few small projects on the side every now and then including the console, but Kaiba Land was always his main focus. Since Seto and Mokuba were creating a chain of amusement parks worldwide, it was immensely busy for them. After graduation, Seto had more time to spend on Kaiba Land, so the speed of that project had picked up a lot. The two brothers had to travel to a few places back and forth over the two years just for their Kaiba Land project. Many times Seto had to travel alone since he wanted Mokuba to attend school. _

_There was some unfinished business for Seto's second Kaiba Land. Seto wanted to make a few changes to upgrade the theme park. He had also asked for renovations to his mansion in America which should be complete in a month so Seto will have to fly over to America._

"_Our dream is coming true, Mokuba."_

_Mokuba gave Seto a cute smile and hugged him tightly._

_Kaiba Land was not an easy project. To build the amusement parks took time and just maintaining them was financially draining. Because Seto and Mokuba had created these amusement parks for underprivileged children, those children were allowed in Kaiba Land for free. The combined cost for workers, maintenance, materials and equipment and other fees made it that much harder. Any child without adult supervision were supervised by people hired at Kaiba Land for that particular job. Security at Kaiba Land was perfect. He made sure it was safe for children. _

_For a normal person, the blow in the wallet for having a worldwide chain of amusement parks would have been harsh and probably impossible to maintain, but for Seto, it was possible. Seto profited from the other parts of his business immensely and was creating Kaiba Land at a pace that was manageable for both Mokuba and him. He had to stay over at the countries where he had extended Kaiba Land to inspect the construction and to hire workers, but he never stayed long. He would always return to Domino for Mokuba, who was there for his education._

_Mokuba broke from the hug gently. "Don't go telling people I still hug my big brother." He grinned._

"_I'll be sure to broadcast it internationally." Seto ruffled Mokuba's hair and gave his brother a smile that was only exclusive to him._

"_We can come up with a better console idea. Our original consisted only of compiled technology we had created already in our older productions. We'll make something even better and release it to the market!" Mokuba said excitedly with his hands forming fists._

"_We will. Tell the others of our new plan on completely remodelling the Kaiba Duel console."_

_One of Mokuba's fists shot up into the air. "Yeah!"_

_Seto couldn't help but smile again. "Have you finished the work I gave you for Kaiba Land, Mokuba?"_

_"Yes, Big Brother. I'll have someone send them up to you shortly."_

_Seto nodded. Even though his life had never been busier, he was glad; Kaiba Land was running smoothly and Mokuba was growing up healthily. But…_

_He couldn't help but feel like something was missing._

* * *

_Tired, Seto leaned back on his chair, and massaged the bridge of his nose. He let out a sigh before Mokuba knocked on his door again. And again he permitted him in._

"_Big Brother! It's time to go home!" Mokuba walked to Seto's side and started massaging his arm._

_It was then Seto noticed a strange shadow from behind him, projecting from the window. He made a casual glance at the window and saw nothing there, but when he turned back around to where the shadow once was, it disappeared._

_Seto got up from his seat and grabbed his already packed briefcase. "Let's go." And Mokuba followed Seto out the door._

_They headed down and out the building to the limousine that was already waiting for their arrival. Seto noticed some rustling in the bushes and in the corner of his eye, he saw someone's shoe for a split second before that image disappeared. He pretended he hadn't noticed anything and stepped into his limousine after Mokuba._

_Someone was watching them. How long had it been? Just today? Or had it been for a while now? He had been so preoccupied with Kaiba Land that it was possible for a few things to slip past him. Seto was not pleased with this. His security was obviously doing an inadequate job._

_Who could it be? An internal spy? An external spy? Hopefully not a psychotic fan girl._

* * *

"A few days later YamamotoCorp announced that there _might_ be a delay in the release of their console because they _might_ add even better features to it. The timing was very suspicious seeing how I scrapped my console idea not too long ago and suddenly YamamotoCorp decided to also change their console design."

"So you suspected that the person who was watching you was someone hired by YamamotoCorp?"

"Correct. I didn't say anything about this plan of mine to anyone, not even Mokuba. I didn't want my plan to be ruined or leaked out if the spy happened to overhear me discussing with Mokuba. I don't know how many spies there are or if the spy is someone from the company or someone outside it or how much security they can get past."

"Why didn't you just get one of your goonies to catch the person?"

"Because. I figured I can use them to my advantage. As long as I don't arrest the spy, whoever hired the spy will continue thinking that Kaiba Seto is unaware—it keeps their guard low. If I had revealed that I knew of being watched, then they will most likely stay alert and it will be much harder to catch the real enemy. I could've interrogated the spy but I had a feeling things would go a lot smoother if I didn't."

Besides, this was a game to Seto. Although he was a busy man with a business to run (so he shouldn't be running around playing cops and robbers), a part of him thrived an adventure. It was something which he had grown accustomed to and partially missed… something that used to happen a lot when Atem was still around.

Katsuya really wanted to know more; without realizing it, he was leaning a lot closer to Seto than he was during the beginning of the story. Seto noticed this and smirked. He leaned closer to Katsuya so that their faces were merely centimetres apart.

"Aren't you getting a little close, puppy?"

Katsuya jumped back in surprise and yelped.

"Don't raise your voice, idiot." Seto frowned.

"What the hell was _that_?" He kept his voice lower this time. _That was creeeepy_.

Ignoring Katsuya's question, Seto continued with his story. "Since I had to visit America anyways, I formulated a plan to catch the culprit behind this. I spent the rest of the week normally and departed to America right after Mokuba's birthday."

"Mokuba's birthday? Wow. How old is he now?"

"He's 14 now."

Katsuya was sure he saw a slight smile when Seto responded.

"Going to America fitted perfectly for my plan. My mansion over there is heavily guarded and the study is located in the center of the building. No spy could get to me there since they would have to get through all the security around it and inside it. Simply trying to get into the building is a difficult task by itself. I had the mansion designed that way for security measures." Seto smirked, proud of his ingenious mansion. "The spy ended up following me to America. Heh. Some people go so far for their salaries."

"How'd you figure that out?" Katsuya shifted in his seat; he didn't expect Seto to get into that much detail in his explanation. He originally thought he would have had to annoy it all out of the CEO.

"It takes an amateur to detect that spy's behaviour after you first notice him. He wasn't able to get past my security over there; they were aware of the person, but I instructed them to ignore the spy unless he did anything more than watching from outside the building."

This was like some sort of action movie! Katsuya was excited and continued to listen to Seto intently.

"During the first two days I was there, I had checked up on the renovations and ordered for new construction on some areas of Kaiba Land. Afterwards I stayed in the study debating how I should reveal the spy's motive and whether YamamotoCorp was behind all this. I could have easily hired someone to do this for me but that would've been risky. It's always best to do things yourself so that's what I decided to do.

"Because I was in the study most of the time, my employees had to visit me there for inquiries; it was when they were there that I gave them my strict instructions. I had given them specific instructions to guard the place and pretend as if I was always there after I left. I did not clarify the reason, but they were to do as they were told. They were instructed to never speak a word of what I told them or me at all. If anything went wrong... they knew the consequences. Soon all the workers knew about this rule. To make matters much more interesting and convincing, I had the workers continue their routine during my absence. The kitchen staff still made meals for 'me', the maid continued to bring 'me' the paper and so on."

He had even programmed his computer to be active on its own. It would check stocks, the news, research pages and everything else Seto normally went through. It would even send out pre-typed e-mails to Mokuba periodically and the computer would turn off on its own at night. He did all this just in case the spy was able to hack into his computer system. Since the spy was unable to get into the mansion to watch Seto, it was likely that he would try to hack in at least one of the terminals. Although it was unlikely for someone to be able to hack into Kaiba Seto's network, it was still a precaution. If the spy was someone like Siegfried, then he or she had a chance. If not, the spy would most likely at least be able to detect internet activity from the mansion, so it would be a bad sign if no activity was ever picked up.

"What happened to the extra cooked meals then?"

Leave it to Katsuya to ask about food. "It would be secretly distributed among the workers. The spy can't see the study and the inner parts of the mansion after all."

"This is too cool but, did you really have to go all hardcore? It's just one little spy-"

"No. I didn't. However, YamamotoCorp was caught damaging one of Kaiba Corporation's inventions before. They tried to sabotage one of our duelling gadgets so that when it was time for the public demonstration, it would blow up in our face and humiliate us. They have always saw us as a thorn and always tried to get rid of us through pathetic attempts. The person who was caught got into an accident during the sabotage and conveniently passed away. With that, the owner of YamamotoCorp got away by claiming he knew of no such act. I'm pretty ticked off by them now since they're not leaving Kaiba Corporation alone. If they want to play it this way then I'll just have to get rid of them this way. Rumours were floating around that YamamatoCorp wasn't clean. I figured it shouldn't be hard to find evidence while they're plotting against Kaiba Corporation at the moment."

"But they might not be."

"Which is why I plan to find out."

Katsuya was grinning, obviously excited; he couldn't even stay still in his seat.

"I spent the rest of my time in America creating a new identity. Matsuo was born that day. I even made up his family and his lover's identities. His whole life history and achievements in the programming field was all added to official databases. I even made a medical history; I did everything."

Katsuya eyes widened a bit. "And how the hell did you do _that_?"

"It's called hacking."

"Whoa!" Katsuya jumped up from his seat. "I wanna learn! Teach me!"

"No."

Disappointed, he sat down again. "Why not?"

Choosing not to answer his question, he continued. "I had Isono order disguise equipment for me on the first day but he had to complete the task before returning to Japan. I had him leave it at the end of the tunnel." Isono was instructed to return and stay by Mokuba's side.

"Isn't that risky? I mean with the spy around and all."

"Yes. Everything has its risks but we were careful. I gave instructions in the study of course and I made sure the spy was still watching me rather than Isono on the day of Isono's flight back to Japan. If he was a good spy he would know Isono was only returning to Mokuba. But either way, he didn't follow him. True there could've been the possibility of more than one spy, but I trust Isono to be careful.

Isono's plan was to arrive at to the airport first, disguise himself somewhere safe like the bathroom, escape and prepare my things. Afterwards he returned to the airport to take his trip back to Japan. Luckily things went smoothly for us."

Katsuya was amazed. Seto acted like a secret agent. "Teach me how to hack." He thought he'd try his luck again.

"It's not the type of thing for bonkotsus."

Katsuya frowned. "Stop calling me that already!" This elicited another smirk from Seto. Oh how he loved teasing Katsuya.

Still smirking, Seto continued his story. "I left the mansion via a hidden underground passage connected to my study."

"Was it like one of those secret bookshelf things you see on T.V.? Like you know, the ones where the person would pull out one of the books and the bookshelf would slide to the side?" he asked, excitement evident in his voice.

"It's just a hatch under the rug." Seto would have teased Katsuya for getting excited like a child over this, but he decided to just continue with his story. Katsuya better be pleased that he had spent the time to elaborate on his plan this much. "It's a long tunnel that leads to a deserted forest, I left at night to avoid being seen, and then by the time I reached the area, I got into my Matsuo disguise equipment Isono bought for me."

"A wig?"

Seto nodded. "A wig, new clothes, special contacts, glasses and a makeup kit."

"Does Isono know about your plans?"

"No. Like the others, he only did what he was told. He was not allowed to question nor allowed to ever speak of it."

Wow! Katsuya couldn't help but grin. That means he was the only one who knew. He wanted to help! There hasn't been an adventure ever since The-Other-Yugi left. His life returned to its normal predictable routine that day. And now, Seto was now presenting him with an adventure! A chance to chase away the dullness in his life. He felt as if a candle that had long been blown out had just been relit again inside of him. He'll have to ask Seto if he could help out after the story.

"So then I flew over here as Matsuo, got myself a job in Hayasa and here I am now." Seto was a little tired and thirsty for talking so long. He couldn't even remember the last time he said that much to a single person. "Do understand it all? I made it easy for bonkotsus to understand." He grinned as Katsuya shot him a glare.

"Yes, I understood the whole thing. Thanks for being so considerate, prick." Katsuya was determined to annoy the hell out of Seto now.

Debating whether he should ask Katsuya if he wanted a drink, Seto glanced over at the kitchen and then back at his guest. He was silent for a moment but soon came to a decision. "Water?"

Katsuya nodded.

Seto got up from where he was sitting and walked into the kitchen and prepared two glasses of water before returning to Katsuya.

"Thanks." He took the glass into his hand and chugged the whole thing down quickly. "Why Hayasa though? Why not go straight into YamamotoCorp?"

Strange puppy, he gets angry and forgets about the issue so quickly. "Because YamamotoCorp wasn't hiring, the position out for Hayasa was high enough for me to do my work and although they are different companies, they keep close ties with each other so being in Hayasa is like being in YamamotoCorp."

"This is so cool! Have you found any evidence against them yet?"

"Not yet. I've only been there for two weeks. I still have to familiarize myself with the place, the people and also YamamotoCorp's building. Being in Hayasa is a good opportunity to find out if Hayasa was part of this scheme as well. Any more questions?" He hoped there weren't any. He didn't feel like answering anymore questions. "I would like to remind you that you _must_ keep this a secret or else. You can picture the consequences."

"I still have questions." Katsuya suddenly grinned which made Seto raise an eyebrow. "Sooo...How have you been?"

"Fine." What was bonkotsu up to?

"Can I have a fake ID too?"

"No."

"How old is Matsuo supposed to be?"

"21."

"Whoa. Isn't that a little young to be the head of programming? You don't even look 21!" Well he barely did with the disguise.

"Aren't you forgetting something? I hacked his profile, mutt. Matsuo is a genius. And some people just look younger and the makeup helps. I don't look old enough to be any age higher."

"Aren't geniuses usually well known?"

"He's not Einstein but he did graduate from school quickly and has experience due to his programming hobby."

"Can I join your secret investigation?"

"No." Seto was starting to get irritated at Katsuya for bombarding him with questions with such enthusiasm.

"I won't tell anyone if you do!" Katsuya moved closer to Seto.

"Don't push your luck."

"I want to help though! Add that to the agreement too and for sure I'll keep it from the world! I promise I'll be useful."

"Agreements don't change, mutt. I thought 'Jounouchi Katsuya never betrays a friend'."

"Am I _your_ friend?" Katsuya's grin grew wider. He knew this was a difficult question for Seto

Seto didn't respond.

"Am I?"

"Shut up."

Katsuya laughed. "Hey, is Matsuo gay?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Seto growled and fought the urge to smack Katsuya.

Katsuya was laughing hysterically inside at this point. Seto looked ticked. He knew Seto couldn't last long. Oh how he loved annoying Seto.

"How heavy are you?"

"What?"

"Can you lick your nose with your tongue?"

What does that have to do with _anything_? "How many idiotic questions do you have?" Nobody had the right to mess with him!

"Chill man, just messing with you." Katsuya broke into laughter. "I haven't seen you in a while, I missed you man." He forced the words in between gasps for air and his laughter. His cheeks and tummy were starting to hurt.

Seto rolled his eyes. Seriously. What was wrong with the idiot? Did he hit his head when he was younger?

"I don't remember you being this 'playful'." Seto folded his arms.

"Remember Jin from Amaranthine? His fault." He answered through giggles. "Sorry, I'll stop and be serious now." He cleared his throat. "All right! We can do this!" He grinned while holding up two fists with his hands.

Seto only frowned.

"What's Matsuo's first name?"

"You don't need to know it."

"Sure I do! Since I'm part of the investigation now, I deserve to know."

"I never said you were allowed in." Seto groaned. "It's Tatsuya. Matsuo Tatsuya."

Katsuya paused. "Say what?"

"It was selected at random." Not.

"Right..." Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "I shouldn't have asked."

Seto got up from his seat again with the two empty glasses and headed towards the kitchen again. Katsuya followed him.

Seeing Seto again made Katsuya strangely happy. He never thought he'd be able to have such a long conversation with Seto without beating the guy up. He had been here for hours. He was so glad Seto told him of all people everything. He wasn't going to let Seto down. He'll help him with the investigation and keep it a secret from the world!

"Didn't you go to work today? How come you're here?" He leaned against the counter.

Seto growled. "I was heading there, but a wretched truck drove across one of the big puddles and splashed me." He still remembered the license plate but he wasn't going to do anything as Matsuo. That driver will just have to wait. "My wig got drenched so I was forced to return home to shower. I already called in sick."

Katsuya nodded, understanding what Seto meant since he had to deliver papers everyday. Puddles are deadly shit.

Seto placed the glasses into the dishwasher.

"Everything Matsuo did was an act right?"

Seto nodded.

"You didn't have to request me, but you did. Why?"

"I wanted to mess with you. You were also my excuse for staying silent that night. I didn't feel like acting like Matsuo then and conversing with the others. If I said you looked like Kazuki, I had a reason to be quiet and eat my meal peacefully."

So that's how it was. Fair enough. But...

"Hey?"

"What?" Seto sighed. This better be the last question.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

* * *

**Notes:** Thanks for reading!

Holy crap that took a long time. Now I'm tired. I'm sorry if everyone feels OOC in this chapter...

After this chapter, my writing-rate will probably depend on how motivated I am to get things done. Most likely depending on the amount of reviews...as sad as that may be. I'm not a writey/ready person so there are only so many ways to get me motivated. It's because I have exams coming up. I also want to draw and finish my _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ AMV.

* * *

(1) Did you read my "Notes" from chapter two?


	4. The One Who Befuddles My Heart

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes:** Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I'm so slow… It took me three chapters to get to the point. Haha.

I suck.

Please bear with the mushy beginning…

**The One Who Befuddles My Heart**

_He barely hovered over the other boy on his bed. His legs straddled his lover while his forearms held his thorax up. Their fingers laced together gently as the distance between their lips slowly declined. When their lips barely brushed against each other, he paused. The meeting was soft as fine feathers and sent jolts of tingles across the rest of their lips and then swiftly down the rest of their body. _

_His lover mumbled his name softly, encouraging him to continue, so he initiated an exchange of gentle kisses. Warm and soft… _

_Their fingers unlaced and he brought his right hand to travel down the side of his companion's body while his other hand was placed over the lower portion of said companion's abdomen. The kisses continued and began to grow in intensity. Neither boys wanted to stop, both begging 'just a little longer' silently in their minds._

_The exchange soon grew heated as he desired his lover in a different level. He ran his tongue along the other's lower lip and then nibbled at it. To his delight, his lover parted his lips slightly, inviting him in for that more passionate kiss he craved for._

_Their tongues tangled and clashed, trying to taste each other to the fullest. They wanted to get closer, they wanted to join; their bodies rubbed against each other, not wanting even the slightest distance between them. _

_He sucked on his lover's tongue softly, causing said lover to moan and writhe inside with delight. Their hands travelled over each other, running fingers over sensitive areas and slipping them under clothing._

_Their burning bodies only made them more desperate for each other. They greedily tried to get as much as they can of each other but he soon pulled away gently, but not far. Their breathing was laboured, their clothing and hair were ruffled, their cheeks were flushed and their breath mingled between them._

"_Seto…" his lover said through soft pants, his eyes clouded slightly with lust._

_He smiled softly while caressing his lover's rosy cheek with his thumb._

"_Katsuya…"_

_Without saying anything more, he started to ravish Katsuya's neck. He trailed kisses along his jaw line and down his neck and ran his tongue back up it afterwards, retracing the path. Katsuya moaned and in return, rubbed their hips together. _

_Their clothing vanished suddenly and the world narrowed to them and the bed. He moved over Katsuya's chest, planting kisses down it. _

_Katsuya only watched; his heartbeat could be felt increasing with excitement. _

_His lips moved lower, reaching Katsuya's navel…_

_He continued his kisses, lower and lower…_

_Lower and lower…_

* * *

He woke up to the sound of his radio alarm clock, buzzing and blaring out the traffic report. He rolled over to his side and groaned, reaching over to turn the alarm off. He shifted uncomfortably in his bed before pushing himself to sit up on the soft mattress. Lifting his blanket up, he peered under it.

Stupid dream. It had been a while since he had one of these dreams… They were always horrifyingly mushy and always involved Katsuya.

He groaned again before forcing his body out of bed and into the bathroom. He needed a cold shower…

He stepped out of his clothes and into his shower, twisting the knob for water and adjusting it to a temperature he wanted.

The water came rushing out the showerhead onto Seto's slightly sweaty body. It felt good; the water was hitting him like a soft massage—bouncing off his body, clinging onto his skin in forms of tiny transparent pearls and streaming all over his body, dripping off at the limbs. But most importantly, the heat he felt was diminishing.

It was only a crush. A crush that he had for a long time now, but never acknowledged or admitted to until Mokuba forced it out of him during their last year in high school. It was illogical at first—the great Kaiba Seto having a crush over a commoner who he thought to be a fool. And it just had to be a boy to boot—but those confusing times over how he felt were over for him. Like Mokuba told him—he was human even if he worked like a machine.

Only an attraction…

It wasn't something he tried to pursue, seeing how it was completely impossible in the first place. Katsuya didn't act like he was gay, not when he drooled over every damn set of boobs attached to every bloody attractive woman. He was sure Katsuya had no feelings for him as well. It wasn't something he needed to pursue either; it wasn't important and he was convinced that it would eventually just go away. Just like in the stories he heard—crushes dissipate with time. He had been too busy with Kaiba Land to think about anything else that it felt like it did go away. But now he guessed…it didn't.

He hated how foolish this ridiculous attraction made him feel. It made him a walking contradiction all the time. Sometimes he'd feel like he wanted to pursue Katsuya and then he'd push him away with condescending words. But he had enjoyed what he had received out of it—angry cute puppies.

Yesterday he told Katsuya his secret. He was a businessman and had analyzed and assessed the situation. He couldn't risk not telling the blond about this dangerous game. Telling the truth was the safest path. He had predicted that Katsuya would be proud to discover that he was the only one who knew. Thus, he would more likely keep his word.

He had explained everything in a way he knew even normal people like Katsuya would understand to simplify matters. But...had he said too much? He had said more than he normally would have. Originally he thought he should just get it all over with by spilling everything at once, but he ended up giving him a detailed report—something he normally expected out of his employees. Had he changed? No, it couldn't be that. Maybe forcing himself to act like Matsuo for two weeks was messing with him. Matsuo was more talkative as an employee since there's an expectation to spew detailed reports. But…

Mokuba was the only person he ever cared to give details to (but only in complete privacy). No matter how ingenious he thought his plans were or whatever degree of excitement he was in, it shouldn't have cause him to recite a speech to anyone other than Mokuba. Did it mean something? It was just a crush! Did mere attraction have that much power over someone? It didn't before… Did it rise up a level? Was he more infatuated now? Either way it was temporary and foolish.

He shook his head and dismissed his thoughts. He would not let it bother him. It was just a useless human emotion that was unnecessary to his life. He had better things to do and for now…

It was another goddamn day of work at a place he could not care less about.

* * *

"Why the-What the fuck are you doing here again?" Seto glared at his uninvited guest who was making himself comfortable on the couch with a silly grin glued on his face. "It's fucking seven in the morning."

"Do you _always_ walk around your house with nothing but a towel on?" Katsuya pointed at the dark blue towel around Seto's hips, ignoring Seto's question. "If you do, I feel sorry for you-know-who." He was talking about Mokuba of course. And damn, he felt slightly envious. Seto had a really nice body. Girls must throw themselves at him all the time. Money, status, looks… some guys just have it all.

Seto didn't feel like answering his question, so he left to his room like he did yesterday, to change. It was uncomfortable with Katsuya there. It wasn't a good idea to stay the way he was after the incident in bed. The last thing he wanted to do was to waste time taking another shower or to end up having to explain to Katsuya why and how he was hiding a granola bar under his towel.

* * *

Katsuya was curled up on the couch with his eyes closed when Seto returned. How very ill mannered.

"So, why are you here?" _He better have a good reason._

"Don't use that voice! It's kind of creepy now that I know." His eyes shot open at the sound of Matsuo's voice.

"Hn. Get used to it." He was already in his Matsuo disguise. He had to go to work after all.

"I don't have work 'til eleven," Katsuya said suddenly while twirling a Duel Monsters card between his fingers.

Seto frowned at Katsuya but stayed silent, waiting for a better answer.

"Annnnd…" Katsuya's grin returned. "I'm here to inform you that we're going to have a secret meeting right after you get off work. So uh…when will you be home from work?"

"Ridiculous." Seto folded his arms. "Why would I have a meeting with _you_?" His eyes flickered briefly at the card Katsuya was playing with.

"Because I'm part of the you-know-what now?" He casually slung an arm around Seto's shoulders but it was casually brushed off almost immediately. "So? When do you get home?"

"I have no intentions in-"

"We went through this yesterday." He was still playing with the card… Messenger of Peace.

"Six." A part of him wanted Katsuya around.

"Good." His silly grin was there again. "I'll bring over some snacks!" He stopped playing with the card for a second and tapped it a few times against his hip before slipping the card back into his deck.

"No thanks. I don't want to eat any 'snacks' you would stuff in that garbage can of yours."

"Say what!" Katsuya frowned. "You ate what I suggested at Amaranthine didn't you?"

"That was a snack?" He smirked.

"That doesn't matter! And lay off will you? I'm _trying_ to be friendly here."

Silence somehow crept between the two. It was slightly awkward so Katsuya cleared his throat and began again. "I also brought your paper in." He gestured at the table.

Seto nodded. "Now if you don't mind…" He walked towards the door and unlocked it.

"Six, tonight."

"Whatever."

Katsuya smiled proudly and headed to the door Seto held open. "About the thing you told me to do with you-know-who, I'll try to do it soon."

Seto nodded again as Katsuya stepped out of his apartment.

"Bonkotsu," he suddenly started, causing the blond to stop and turn around, "use the door bell next time."

* * *

Papers, folders, computers, workers and other office related things… It was nothing Seto wasn't used to. The place itself was pathetic though, hence he sat there half the time ridiculing everyone's behaviours.

This wasn't Kaiba Corporation so he didn't have to overwork himself. He only completed the tasks set out for him and just a little more to appeal to the higher-ups. All his tasks were considered too simple to him and he was used to working fast so he had already completed all his work three days ago. Once in a while more work was brought to him and he would complete them satisfactorily on the spot and that would be it. The rest of the time was spent on planning what he should do, observing the situation and people and learning whatever he needed.

Ochiai, head of communications, continuously came over to his desk to flirt with him. It was getting on his nerves. He chose a gay character to fend off the women but it was bringing him more trouble. Who would have thought the gay ones here were so audacious… Who would've thought the women were yaoi fans and also convinced that he was a bisexual even though he declared he was plainly gay and devoted to his made-up deceased lover?

He rolled his eyes as the lady in quite revealing clothes across from his small shitty office tossed a wink at him through his window as she fixed her hair. Maybe he should close those blinds…

Damn, never mind, it was too late to close those blinds now, she was heading towards his office. He almost groaned since this meant he had to put on his Matsuo persona again. But really, what did Miss Double-D think the action of one rolling their eyes meant? 'I think your ass is fine'?

_Here it goes…_

"Matsuo, dear." She smiled at him as she strolled into the office without knocking. If he were her boss, she'd be fired on the spot for such a rude behaviour.

"Yes, what is it?" He forced his best sincere-looking smile. "Is there a part of our project that you don't understand?" He didn't even remember her name. Hell, he didn't remember most people's names. The names of minor characters like these were not worth his brain space. It was mostly the higher-ups that mattered to him. They were his key to information so it was important that he addressed them appropriately.

Many of the workers here at his department were quite eccentric. He remembered their quirks so he made up his own names for them without bothering to learn their real names. Just like how he likes to call this woman with two melons on her chest, Miss Double-D.

Miss Double-D casually leaned towards the table a bit, with a glint in her eye. "There's a small error in my program and I can't seem to debug it, can you help me?"

Bull shit. He knew Miss Double-D was capable to do her own programming. She was no amateur in this field. Saying that she couldn't debug her own program is like asking for her things to be packed and out the door. What a risky move. He would never tolerate such incompetence if she were one of his employees. She was hired here to program, not get others to do things for her.

"I'm sorry. I'm tied up with a lot of work over here. I'm sure if you run the debugger through a few more times, you'll figure it out."

"It'll only take a minute, knowing how competent you are." She added a wink.

_Stupid woman._ Seto wished he could fire her. He was starting to find her existence utterly unnecessary.

"I'm afraid I can't help you out this time. But knowing how _competent_ you are at this field to get hired here, you'll be able to figure it out in no time." He wished she'd leave his trashy office and leave him alone. Her company was worse than having dinner with Pegasus.

She pouted a bit, trying to look cute, which ticked Seto off; only Mokuba can pull that off properly or look cute for that matter.

"Oh but, I also need a run through on the big scene again that we have to program. I just don't get this 'Trov' character. What are we supposed to do with him?"

_He's the fucking main character in the story, you whore. If you don't get that much, you really should be fired! God, she did _not_ just make her bosom bounce. _

He resisted the urge to form fists with his hands and only left them resting on his lap. "The guy who has his desk next to yours can help you with that. I'm sure he knows."

"Tono?"

"Yeah." _Whatever. Take-out-boy. _He was sure Take-out-boy would probably enjoy this unsavoury behaviour a lot more.

"Not a fan of being a hero are you, Matsuo sweetie?"

_Just not yours._

"My, my, you are quite different. I like that. It's a challenge." She walked around the table to Seto's side and sat on the edge of it. Her miniskirt rode up an inch of two, revealing her thighs more.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please get back to the other side of the desk." He turned away from the repugnant sight. He didn't want to lose it now and slip out of character. The last thing he needed was to blow at Miss Double-D and ruin his perfect 'relation network' he was building in order to obtain information smoothly.

"So shy! That's so cute!" She giggled and placed a hand on Seto's chest. "Don't worry, I don't bite."

Seto pushed her hand away not too roughly and gave her a serious look. "I'm not _that _way. You know that."

"So you do know what I'm talking about. You should really try and use my name for once, Matsuo dear. It's Miyagi Hiromi."

"Miss Miyagi. I must apologize, but I really am very busy at the moment."

"Will you at least join me at dinner tonight or something?" She got off the desk and ran a hand through her hair. "As friends." She smiled.

_If you turn out useful. _

"Not tonight, maybe another night? I already have…dinner plans." _With Katsuya._

"Boyfriend?"

"No." _That's impossible._

"Oh. Girlfriend?" She teased. "Your eyes lit up for a second there." She cupped her cheek with the palm of her hand. "I'm so jealous."

_Have you no shame?_

"Anyways, you should really get back to work. We shouldn't be chatting on the job." _That's right, crawl back into your filthy box and flirt with Take-out-boy._

She tossed him another wink while adjusting her bra strap. "Alrighty. Say 'hi' to that date of yours for me." And she finally left the room.

Seto sank back into his seat and closed his eyes. _Women. _It wasn't the worst advance he ever received, but it was still disturbing. There were many women in the past who had impelled themselves at him, trying to coax him to bed and all that. At least Miss Double-D didn't 'grace' him with one of those kisses for his cheek other bantam women had.

He should probably pretend to look occupied, so no one else will bother him like Miss Double-D had. If he doesn't make any more eye contact, he should be mostly fine for the rest of the day. Only three more hours before he gets off work anyways.

He pulled one of his drawers open and peered inside at the slowly growing collection of folders in it. All the folders were ugly manila but the papers inside them were all neatly organized by red paperclips. For some reason, all the paperclips used in Hayasa were red, while all the paperclips from YamamotoCorp were blue. Every time a file from YamamotoCorp was given to him, they were paper clipped together with two blue paperclips, crisscrossed from each other.

Ochiai said the Yamamotos were picky about those sort of things; they like things organized in specific ways. When Seto was hired, he was taught the basics of organization at the company. All multi-paged documents must have red paperclips and if there were more than one document that were related or are to be handed in together, they should be piled on top of each other in order, separately clipped with an increasing amount of paperclips (one each time) from the top set to the bottom. Paperclips had to be used even if you stapled the pages together. And the staples were all green.

He really didn't get the point in all of that… A paperclip fetish? Maybe one of the Yamamotos had OCD. (1)

He pulled out the newest folder in the drawer and slapped it on top of his desk. It was the folder with the details on the game they were currently working on. That new Sagas thing. He'll just pretend to be looking through the papers while studying the floor plans and the schedule for the workers in Hayasa. He already ran through the security systems and they weren't very tight at all. Now he only needed to devise a plan after familiarizing himself with all the information he dug up while everyone in his department was truly engrossed in work. That way they wouldn't walk in on him… Not that it mattered, he could easily hide what he was looking at on his screen.

He started typing something and then deleted it from his computer. He should get a cup of coffee first.

* * *

He made his way towards the break room where the coffee was kept, trying not to make any eye contact with anyone so he wouldn't have to start any unnecessary conversations. Even so, he noticed that all the women in his department weren't in their seats.

"That's right. He's either truly one hundred percent gay or he's one hundred percent pure—the rare nonexistent type most women want their hands on." The voice came from inside the break room, it sounded like Miss Double-D.

"I can't believe Matsuo didn't react normally to your advances," another person responded.

He slowed down his advance towards the break room and stopped behind the wall near the door. They didn't notice him at all. Should he just walk in or wait till they were done?

"Well, Hiromi, your test is never wrong. I guess that means we have no chance. The homo-boys here are going to jump in joy now." Her voice had a hint of despondence.

"Don't be so glum. Now we just have to find him a hot seme for him so we can get ourselves some eye candy." It was another woman's voice.

_A seme?_

The girls were giggling. "You think he's the uke type?"

"Hell yeah. He's a walking uke-symbol. Totally the type who would want to be dominated."

"I think he'd make a better top." Miss Double-D's voice again.

Screw it. This was a waste of time. He was going to just walk in and pretend he had just arrived and heard nothing.

And so he did.

To his amusement, their eyes widened beyond what Seto thought was humanly possible. They were all probably wondering if he had overheard them as their eyes shifted to look at each other.

"Hey Matsuo." Lucky-Charms called out with a bit of stagger. She always had cereal with her at work. The day before yesterday she was known as Corn-Pops.

"Just getting some coffee," he simply said and proceeded to the cupboards with his plain mug where the godly goods, his coffee, were stored. There weren't any of those expensive coffee beans he was used to having but there was still caffeine so they will suffice.

"We're uh, going to go back to work now!" one of the girls said and giggled uneasily while leading the other girls out the door with her.

The rich aroma of coffee permeated the room, soothing him_. Mmm coffee. _He took a sip out of that holy grail and felt whatever tolerance he had return. He glanced at his watch. Never mind. He still had three more hours to kill at 'work'.

* * *

There was a knock and then a door bell. A small smile found its way to Seto's lips as he got up from his couch to welcome his expected visitor.

"I brought dinner!" Katsuya chimed right as the door was swung open. He had a silly grin on his face again and walked into the room before Seto said anything or even hinted a welcome. "I'm assuming you haven't eaten since you just got off work not too long ago so I brought this instead of snacks." He brought up the white plastic bag with the 'food' in his hand and swung it like a pendulum to indicate what 'this' was.

Seto expected Katsuya would do something like this since he always had a stomach in place of a brain.

"I made it myself," Katsuya said. "I don't know if you like mixed dishes but that's what we're having." He took off his shoes and made his way into the kitchen to set the food down and prepare the table. Seto followed after him.

"Is it edible?" Seto raised an eyebrow with that question.

"Yes, Master. I made sure to use real food."

"What I meant was, 'is it edible for people?'."

"Ha. Ha. You're a riot. Shut up, sit down, and eat, Rich Boy."

Seto lifted the lid off the container and peered inside it. A waft of warm air rose up and drifted over his face. It smelled great. Rice with mixed vegetables and chicken. There was some kind of sauce poured over top too.

"Where do you keep your chopsticks?" He was randomly opening drawers.

"Top drawer to your left."

"Found it!" He rejoiced, letting out a laugh with that grin on him again. He was obviously acting quite proud of himself. Why he was so happy? Seto did not understand.

"Say something will ya?" He spun the chopsticks before placing them down on the table. "Don't worry, I don't cook _too_ bad. I do have to make most of the meals at home you know."

Actually, Seto didn't know. But it didn't really matter now did it?

"...What are you doing?" Seto questioned, perplexed. Katsuya was making 'The Bird of Paradise' out of his napkin.

"Oops." Katsuya quickly broke the work of art and took a seat, looking a bit flushed.

"Is it a normal occurrence for you to decorate your dinner table before a meal?" Was he being too mean?

"I think working as a waiter is messing with my habits." He let out a soft laugh.

"Or are you trying to have a candle-light dinner for two? I have candles if you want them." Or was he being too nice?

"I rather kiss a monkey."

"Too much information, mutt. I-"

"-Have no interest in your secret past times." Katsuya beat him to the sentence with a smug look. "I know. You're a real asshole. Now eat." He shoved a bowl into Seto's hand.

Seto frowned inwardly, feeling strangely dissatisfied. Katsuya wasn't reacting like how he wanted. He was being too unpredictable. And unpredictability was not something Kaiba Seto was used to.

Katsuya watched him eagerly as Seto took a bite of the rice. He was nervous and wanted to know how Seto found the food.

"Why aren't you eating?" Seto didn't look up from his bowl.

"So...?"

"'So' what?"

"How is it?"

"Acceptable."

"That's it?"

Seto's brow furrowed. "Should I get on my knees and thank you for the meal?"

That was probably the best Katsuya could get out of Seto 'now'. He had plans in improving that one day. Otherwise he would end up wanting to snap Seto's head off like he wanted to do in the past. Seto was too unapproachable. He really didn't know how to communicate properly. The only time he ever said anything was to insult, yell or brag. With the exception of business talk, but even then he could be pretty rude.

"If you're willing, I wouldn't mind."

Seto looked up in slight disbelief. "Eat your food, Bonkotsu."

* * *

"Here are the floor plans for Hayasa." He launched the file on his laptop and shifted it over to Katsuya so he could see it. They had just finished their meal and Seto played some music but not as loud as last time. It was the same idea: keep your voice down and let the music block their conversation out from anyone who potentially can overhear them.

"You know, if you're going to play music every time, I should bring over one of my CDs."

"Concentrate." Seto pointed at the screen. "That's where my office is."

"So we're sneaking in?"

"Not really. I'll be going to work like I normally do and then stay overtime so we can do what we need."

"What time are you off tomorrow? Same time?"

Seto nodded. "You get off at five tomorrow so when it's after six come to Hayasa. You can pretend to be delivering me some dinner."

"You want me to cook for you again?" He grinned. "I knew you liked it!"

"You don't have to necessarily bring me food that you made."

"Just admit that you liked it."

"Can we get back to the issue at hand?"

He received no response except a serious stare from his guest.

"I had better."

"If 'you-know-who' lost a strand of hair every time you couldn't be truthful when it came to something nice, he'd be bald his whole life."

He pushed his laptop screen down to shut it. "If you changed your mind in helping, you should have told me sooner so I didn't have to waste my time."

"Seriously, you really suck at admitting to the truth."

"I don't remember lying."

He decided to change the topic. "So we're going to find proof that they're up to no good? How are we going to do that?"

"I know how I'm going to do that. How are you going to do that?" Seto folded his arms.

"I can... Well... I'll do whatever I can to help."

"You have no idea how you're going to 'help' do you? Heh. Why am I not surprised?" He grunted. "The only thing I need you to do is pay a visit to 'you-know-who'."

"I will!" Katsuya pursed his lips slightly. "What are your plans?"

"Wait until everyone leaves and then do some hacking." _Why is Katsuya being so tolerant?_

"I can sneak around!"

"Maybe." He closed his eyes for a second and turned to face Katsuya. "This mission must end before October. It shouldn't take that long if they're really guilty."

"That gives us a month. Why October?"

"There's an annual dinner party each year for gaming companies worldwide in October that I must attend."

"What's the point of that?"

"So business men can gather and talk about business things bonkotsu-like people won't understand. They hand out some pointless awards each year too."

"Let me guess, you always win one."

"Naturally."

"Okay! I guess we'll have to arrange times to meet up for this thing. I work Mondays to Thursdays from 11:00am to 5:00pm and 5:00pm to 11:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Since people might see us together more often we should at least know the basics of each other so it looks more like I really became friends with Matsuo."

"I told you enough about Matsuo yesterday. We're not pretending to be lovers so there really isn't anything else you need to know at the moment."

"Right. Well what do you want to know about the current me?"

He wanted to know what Katsuya had been doing for the whole year since they had not seen each other but he didn't want to ask him. There are many ways to obtain information but maybe he can get it out of him indirectly.

"No. A bonkotsu isn't interesting."

"There are lots of things interesting about me!"

Seto pretended to be aloof and started checking his e-mail.

"But I guess since you don't want to know, I won't share!"

"What could possibly be interesting about your life? Your daily hangouts with your friends and going to school?"

Damn that Kaiba. He just had to bring up the things he didn't have. Katsuya quickly became silent and looked away.

Did he just say something right? Was Katsuya going to snap now? Maybe he should push further.

"Hn. Figures."

"Shut up. You're not right. You're completely wrong..."

At that moment his eyes received a nice view of Katsuya's nape due to Katsuya's position—looking away and down at the floor. And then he thought that perhaps he was wrong. A lot has changed about Katsuya over the year. Appearance-wise mostly. He looked more well groomed compared to before. It must be Amaranthine. Even his nails were all cleaned and cared for. If Katsuya had not found out that Matsuo was a fake, he probably would be placing kisses along that nape right now.

"I've only been working this past year," Katsuya explained.

"You couldn't get into a single school? I guess no schools are willing to accept a bonkotsu like you."

Katsuya frowned. _What is wrong with this guy? _"I didn't apply. I can't afford it. I also don't hang out with Yugi and the gang as much anymore."

Seto felt a strange pang in his heart. He didn't like it at all. Was Katsuya trying so hard to be his 'friend' because Yugi wasn't around anymore? He just wanted a replacement? Was that why Katsuya was trying so hard to tolerate him?

"So that's why you degraded yourself to working at a prostitute house?"

"_What_?" _Kaiba fucking Seto,_ he thought. "Amaranthine is _not_ a prostitute house."

"You guys sell yourself to customers. How is that not prostitution?" He knew he was probably pushing Katsuya too hard now but he didn't like feeling like a plug in someone's friendship gap.

"_Excuse me_? Amaranthine is a clean place!" _Why am I trying so hard to be in good terms with this bastard?_

"As clean as a prostitute house can be." He threw in another one of his 'Hn's for the sake of argument. He expected Katsuya to be throwing punches his way soon.

"Forget it."

_Fuck you, Kaiba. Fuck you. You'd be getting a black eye right now if I wasn't trying to stay in good terms._

Seto couldn't believe how easily Katsuya just gave up on their argument. What was wrong with him?

"You're not in school, you lost your friends, and you work at an undignified place. Useless. Just like you are to my mission. There's nothing you can help me with. You don't even know what you can do yourself. Why don't we just end this little partnership game?" _That should get him. Heh._

"_What_?"

_That Fucking Kaiba Seto!_ He was repeating those four words like a violent mantra in his head now.

_That's right. Get angry. Like you should have since the beginning of this pointless conversation,_ Seto thought, becoming tired of their argument. "Get out of my house."

"What? No! I want to help!"

"Well, you're not."

"Goddammit. You're so confusing."

Seto sneered. _I could say the same to you._

"I'm tired of putting up with you today! What is wrong with you? You haven't said a single nice thing at all today! You were at least a scale higher on the nice-meter yesterday."

"I don't recall ever trying to be nice to you."

"Then you suck ass even more."

"Get out."

"Fine. Good night, Matsuo." _And go to fucking hell!_ He got up and slipped into his jacket. "I'm still going to be there tomorrow according to plan."

_Click_.

He was gone. The room was quiet like it normally was except for the music that was playing. But at that moment, Seto didn't notice the music at all.

Everything felt empty and dead silent to him.

Why was he acting like he was today? Why was he acting the way he was yesterday? What was normal? What was it that he wanted? Katsuya's anger? Or maybe he just wanted a reaction...

He knew he didn't really want Katsuya gone.

"I thought the stage of confusion was over..." He mumbled quietly to himself and sank into his seat tiredly.

Was he a fool to have told Katsuya to leave?

...

No. The confusion was already over! It was all temporary.

All.

Temporary.

* * *

**Notes:** I'm so sorry it took so long! Let's see what happened... There was school and I got obsessed with Phoenix Wright XD... Nick x Edgey! I'm taking summer semester so I'm still in school right now with exams every other week. :( Anyways the real _real_ reason this chapter took so long is because I had trouble writing it. -Scratches head- A lot of trouble.

Oh and, do you guys dislike it when I respond to your reviews? I really love it when I get them so I want to respond to them but I don't really know how things work around FFnet... Since I'm pretty new to this whole thing. I made an account years back but I never actually used it 'til now so I don't know if it's a normal thing for people to respond and whether people prefer to not have me add trash to their inbox. :( Sorry! If you don't want me to respond tell me so! I'll shut up and just listen to whatever you have to say. :X

Oh! Check my profile every now and then! I'm adding links to my _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ fanart there whenever I draw them. Like I keep saying, I'm more of an artist than a writer so when I can't supply you with Perpetuality chapters you can get some SetoJou off me through art...which I do more of. Another good thing about checking my profile every now and then is I post up the progress of the chapter I'm working on. Thanks for reading!

* * *

(1) OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder that involves repetitive thoughts and urges to perform certain rituals. Typical features for people who suffer OCD are preoccupation with orderliness, perfection and control. People with OCD are constantly plagued with unwanted upsetting thoughts (obsessions), which motivates them to undergo ritualistic, repetitive behaviours (compulsions) which reduces their anxiousness related to the obsession. The anxiety is irrational and people who suffer OCD know this as well but they cannot get rid of their agitation if their compulsive behaviours were interrupted or not completed.

An example of OCD is if someone must turn their light switch off and on five times before leaving any room with the belief that they may suddenly die otherwise. If they were unable to perform that ritual once they leave a room, they will become severely upset and anxious until they are allowed to perform the act. Their fear is irrational and they are conscious of it. However there is nothing they can do about it except to continue to fulfill their rituals.

In this case, Seto is saying that maybe at least one of the Yamamotos might suffer from OCD because one of them might have to, under all circumstances, have papers organized in a certain way. If they were to see the papers any other way, they would be extremely bothered.

Obsessions and compulsions are intense and disturbing as they can impair daily activities and some very bizarre ones can take up more than an hour of their day.


	5. The One Who Mystified The Sea

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I'm not even going to try to figure out cool combo ideas for _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ the card game. Holy shit, man. I was sitting here trying to read things up but I lost the patience. SO MUCH CARD-GAME-BLAH. Wtf are they talking about? -Doesn't understand- I apologize in advance if I the characters are not pro enough. I'll try to dodge the card game if I can. XD

You guys aren't looking for card game action in this fic anyways. Haha.

Some people wanted to know why Jounouchi's question was left unanswered in chapter three. It was left out on purpose. No worries, I'll get back to it later in the fic.

Look at my FFnet avatar on my profile page! XD;…

**The One Who Mystified The Sea**

He was running along the familiar block, a surge of nostalgia streaming through him. He couldn't believe he was late. It was so important too.

Deciding to take a shortcut, he turned into an alley and headed straight towards the gate at the end. Swiftly, he climbed up the gate in his way and used his arm as support to swing himself over it. He slept in this morning so he was late delivering his papers. He had a terrible nightmare and upon awaking, found out he had forgotten to set his alarm the night before. He was 20 minutes late!

In his dream, he was playing Duel Monsters. All was pleasant until the last battle where he lost most embarrassingly. His opponent, to his dismay, was none other than Kaiba Seto, the jackass who ruined his evening last night. He didn't bother to pay a morning visit to Seto this time since he was running late; he was also slightly upset over last night's event.

He finally made it to the game shop and almost fell over when he stopped abruptly in front of the door, cutting off that built-up velocity. He would probably wear off the sole of his shoes if he kept doing that.

It was still 30 minutes too early for the game shop to open for business so Katsuya reached out to press the buzzer.

Mutou Sugoroku, dressed in blue and white striped pyjamas with a matching sleeping cap, mumbled as he opened the door slowly. "The shop's not op- Oh! Jounouchi!"

"Hey Grandpa. Is Yugi ready?" He peered into the shop and Yugi, right on cue, was hopping down the stairs with a slice of toast in his mouth and trying to put his left sock on simultaneously.

Yugi reached the bottom of the stairs and struggled to get his socks on. He removed the toast from his mouth and looked apologetically at Katsuya. "I'm sorry I'm not ready yet, Jounouchi! My colleagues wouldn't let me leave last night."

Katsuya burst into laughter at the irony of the situation and Yugi joined him after glancing at the clock.

"You boys are too energetic so early in the morning." Sugoroku scratched the back of his head and yawned. "You boys have fun; I have to get the shop ready for business."

As if the yawn was contagious, Katsuya yawned right after. "You're already eating breakfast. I was planning to go out for breakfast with you. I rushed out of the house for work today, rushed home to change and came here right after. I didn't have time to eat anything."

Yugi chuckled. "We can go get food. I'll just order a drink or something." He smiled at Katsuya and then gave him a hug, which was returned happily.

The embrace brought out Katsuya's tender smile. It felt pleasantly warm. It was as if their souls and hearts were embracing as well.

"Sorry for calling you to hang out so suddenly last night, Yugi." They both pulled away gently.

"It's all right, Jounouchi! I am glad you wanted to hang out. You always seem so busy. It's too bad Anzu and Honda couldn't join us too."

Anzu and Hiroto both had work or school while Yugi was usually only free on Tuesdays. Katsuya was normally busy on Tuesdays except for the time between delivering papers and Amaranthine, but he still found himself preoccupied with chores and tasks in the hours he had before work. Even without the chores, there wasn't exactly enough time to 'hang out' and he would only be able to do so with Yugi, so Yugi was surprised when Katsuya actually suggested to hang out during the little time he had.

They headed out the game shop and towards their regular breakfast hangout during their high school days on Sundays. "Why didn't you just bike here?"

"My dad stole it when I went home to change. Said something about gas prices." He let out a soft laugh before starting again. "We really should start hanging out more often or I'll uh…I'll…" He was scratching his slightly flushed cheek lightly with his right index finger.

Yugi chuckled, nodding knowingly.

"Er…You know."

"Yeah." Katsuya would miss them too much. "I feel the same way."

* * *

"Whatcha getting, Yugi?"

Yugi pursed his lips while staring at the menu, trying to decide on a drink. "Hmm."

The waitress came by their table and greeted them with a smile. "Jounouchi! Yugi! I haven't seen you two in ages. I thought this place wasn't good enough for you, now that you both graduated."

The two boys looked at each other and grinned.

Katsuya reached over to Yugi and placed him in a headlock. "Yugi's been extremely busy you see."

"It was Jounouchi's fault!" He waved his arms in emphasis. Their playful laughter filled the room.

The waitress giggled at the two boys who haven't changed at all in her eyes. "So what would you two like?"

"Just give me your breakfast special for today," Katsuya responded cheerfully as he let Yugi out of his lock.

"I'll have that crushed ice lemonade," Yugi said, equally cheerful.

"Okay! Play nice now." She smiled before leaving them and into the kitchen.

"So…" Yugi started, "Why are we going to Kaiba's?"

"Only for a bit!" He felt awkward. Going to Kaiba's mansion wasn't exactly on everyone's list of 'things to do' when spending time with close friends. "I don't want to go there alone."

"Kaiba's in America though. Why do you want to go there when he wasn't even there?"

"It's Mokuba who I want to visit."

"Well I have nothing against visiting Mokuba. But it really surprises me how you've been bringing up the Kaibas so much lately."

"Don't worry over it, Yugi. Just feeling nostalgic." Which wasn't a lie.

"Here you go, boys!" The waitress brought their drinks. "Lemonade and a glass of milk. Your meal will be ready shortly."

"Thanks!" They chimed in unison.

"Let's play a quick game of Duel Monsters before heading there though. You brought your cards?"

"And my disk."

Katsuya grinned again. He couldn't wait to finally play a game with Yugi again.

* * *

"And that last card that you used! That was epic! Man, I really should get a few new cards!" Katsuya pushed the button for the doorbell.

"But that combo you used after my Kuriboh was destroyed was really smart, Jounouchi. You've improved so much that you probably can take Kaiba down."

"I can kick that bastard's ass in Duel Monsters any day. He's the only one who thinks otherwise."

"Who can kick my brother's ass?" The voice came from the intercom. "Is that you Jounouchi? Yugi? What are you guys doing outside my gate?"

"You didn't call?" Yugi looked at Katsuya, slightly startled.

"I thought you were going to call." He defended himself.

"Sorry for dropping in so suddenly, Mokuba. Is it all right if we visit?" Yugi bowed at the intercom slightly as if it were Mokuba to apologize.

"I'll send someone to open the gate and lead you to the mansion door."

"How come it's you who answered the intercom and not a servant, Mokuba?"

"Because I can. The system is hooked up all over the mansion. There's a video in my room too." He decided to tease Katsuya, remembering the one time Yugi told him that Katsuya disliked it when people called him pretty. He was asking him how Katsuya was that time, for Seto's sake. "You look prettier, Jounouchi." He laughed.

Katsuya waved his fist at the camera above the gate. "Just wait 'til I get inside!"

"Jounouchi doesn't like it when we tease him on the looks that Mai forced him to adapt to," Yugi explained between giggles.

"I'm still manly!" Katsuya exclaimed with an arm in the air just as one of the servants arrived to unlock the gate. The servant gave Katsuya a puzzled look for a split second before welcoming them into the Kaiba mansion. To this, both Mokuba and Yugi guffawed.

"Sha-Shaddap!" He flustered and stomped towards the mansion door behind the servant and in front of a hysterical Yugi.

"I can't believe you, Yugi!" he began again when they reached the door.

Yugi blushed slightly, embarrassed that he laughed at his friend. "But you _are_ prettier than be-"

"Stop! Augh!" Katsuya pressed both palms to both sides of his head, twitching.

The door opened and revealed Mokuba. "Just because you're pretty doesn't mean you're not manly." Mokuba's hands were on his waist.

"Holy. You've grown!" Katsuya's eyes widened. "Not taller than me though."

"And I'll be growing more. Look how tall Big Brother is! It's likely I can grow taller than him." He had a smug look on his face.

"Yeah! You do that and I'll kick his ass in Duel Monsters!"

"No one can beat my Big Brother." Well except for Yugi.

"I've improved a lot now!" He made a fist in front of himself.

"Well you can always try." Mokuba grinned. "Aside from losing to Yugi sometimes, my Big Brother would never lose." He titled his head slightly, with a smug grin. "Though that was history. Yugi should be careful the next time he faces my brother."

"I'll show you all!" Katsuya exclaimed.

Yugi chuckled hesitantly. He wasn't sure what to say. Mokuba was still the same when it came to Seto.

"Come in. You can leave your shoes here." Mokuba pointed at one of the corners of the entrance. "And Jounouchi, 'well groomed' is probably more accurate. You were always kind of pretty."

"It feels weird hearing this from another guy." He twitched again.

Yugi looked away quickly, hoping Katsuya did not notice that he agreed with Mokuba.

"So seriously, why are you guys here? If you're looking for Big Brother, he's still in America."

"I actually have no idea why we're here. It was Jounouchi's idea." He was looking around the spacious room in awe. "Since I'm here, do you mind giving us a tour? This place is huge."

"Sure. I don't mind. I don't go to the office until after lunch. You guys were lucky I was actually home," Mokuba answered. Of course Katsuya knew about Mokuba's schedule from Seto already.

"Kaiba's room first!" Katsuya suggested. "I want to see if he wallpapers it with Blue Eyes White Dragons!"

"No, he doesn't." Mokuba laughed. "And I don't know if I should let you in there. Big Brother won't be very happy about it if I let people into his room without permission."

"Aww…But he'll never know."

Mokuba thought for a moment before responding. "Okay." Seto probably wouldn't mind if it were Katsuya.

"Seriously?" Katsuya blinked in disbelief. "What's the catch?"

"Nothing. You were right. He won't find out." He started heading up the stairs with Yugi trailing behind. "Come on or we'll leave you behind. You won't get to see his Blue Eyes pyjamas."

"His _what_?" He ran after them, laughing. Even Yugi was giggling. "You _serious_?"

"As serious as a Kaiba can be. I gave it to him as a birthday present last year as a joke. It was a part of a bigger present though. He wears it for me when I ask him to."

Mokuba headed to the end of the hall at a grand door with golden handles.

"Here it is." He pushed it open and the room inside was astounding. Both Yugi and Katsuya's jaw dropped.

"Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy _fuck_." Katsuya rubbed his eyes.

"Jounouchi…" Yugi looked at him with concern in his eyes. "Mokuba is in here."

"Oops, sorry."

"Hey. I'm not that little. Big Brother swears all the time when he thinks I'm not around."

"Wow. It's so…"

"Sparse?" Yugi helped.

"Yeah. Your brother's room has to be the biggest waste of space in this whole mansion."

"Nah. There are a lot of rooms that aren't used in the mansion. This room is actually quite special."

"Well it's huge. Too huge." Katsuya couldn't see how it was special. It was just huge. Unless that's why it was special.

The room was spacious. It didn't contain a lot of things, only the necessities. There was a large, neatly made bed in the middle of the room against one of the white walls. The sheets were made of silk and were blue like the deep ocean. The bed frame was polished and black, most likely made from ebony wood. The nightstands by each side of the bed were made from the same material as the bed frame, as was the dresser which stood near the wall across from the bed. There were gorgeous white with a hint of light blue polished lamps sitting on the nightstands, which were probably specially designed.

On the ceiling above them was a prominent ceiling fan. The walls had simple light fixtures attached to them, all lining up along the room approximately two meters away from each other. Each and every one of them had an open ended blue frosted glass casing over top to channel the light.

Katsuya walked further into the room. His feet melted into bliss when he reached the blue rug on the light brown hardwood floor. The rug was extremely soft and fluffy that it felt nice to step on. It'll probably feel even better if he didn't have his socks on.

The only other thing in the room was a glass work desk, centered in front of an amazing grand window with blue and white curtains. Yugi walked up to the curtains and pushed them aside a bit, revealing a sliding door which lead to a magnificent balcony. It took their breath away.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?" Mokuba walked up to them. "You can see our garden from here."

Both Yugi and Katsuya only nodded.

"Silk curtains…" Yugi ran his fingers along the blue silk layer. The white layer behind it was linen.

"Why doesn't your brother have a bookcase in here? I thought he would have a lot more in this room. There's still so much space left," Katsuya asked.

"We have a library in the mansion. He doesn't need a bookcase in his room."

Katsuya walked over to the desk next to Seto's black leather chair. There were two silver framed photos and a miniature glass Blue Eyes figurine next to the phone on one end of the desk. On the opposite end, he found an exquisite designer pen holder filled with pens and pencils. Other than those few items, there was nothing else on the desk. One of the photos showed a younger Seto and Mokuba and the other was identical to the photo Katsuya had in his room on his own work desk. It was the picture they all took together during their graduation—the one where he and Yugi jumped him in an attempt to get him to smile. The same picture that made Katsuya smile everyday. The picture he loved…

He reached out to stroke the picture. He couldn't believe Seto had this on his desk. In fact it was uncharacteristic of Seto to have it anywhere in his home.

"Ta da!" Mokuba pulled out the pyjamas he was talking about in Seto's dresser. "Cute isn't it?"

"Oh my god." Katsuya laughed out loud. "I absolutely _cannot_ see your brother in that."

Yugi nodded and stared at the light blue pyjamas with patterned cute Blue Eyes White Dragons. He didn't think he could duel Seto without trying to see him in that next time.

"Hey, what's in that room?" Katsuya pointed at the beautiful white double doors with light silver-blue handles. "Private bath?"

Mokuba nodded. "It's the biggest bathroom we have in the whole house. I have my own private bathroom too."

"Whoa. This I have to see." He reached for the handle and pulled one of the doors open.

Their eyes widened for the millionth time that day.

"You guys seriously have too much cash."

Mokuba only laughed.

"Talking about bathrooms, I need to borrow one," Yugi stated.

"Sure." Mokuba walked up to the intercom and pressed one of the buttons there. "Hiro, can you please take Yugi to the guest restroom?"

A 'Yes, Master Mokuba' was heard over the intercom and the butler knocked on the door shortly after.

"I'll be back." And with that Yugi left the room.

Katsuya jumped onto Seto's bed and hugged the silky sheets.

"Isn't it rude to go into someone's house and sprawl over their bed?" Mokuba placed his hands on his hips. But since Seto liked Katsuya, he probably wouldn't mind.

It was really for 'revenge' that Katsuya jumped onto Seto's bed. All for what Seto said to him last night. He figured Seto wouldn't like it if he did that so he did. And god the bed felt so good.

"Well whatever. I have to get someone to re-clean this whole room before Big Brother gets back anyways." Mokuba sighed. "Really, Jounouchi. You never answered me. What's your real reason in coming here? It has to do with Big Brother doesn't it?"

"You're really smart, kiddo." Katsuya sat up from Seto's bed. "I have a letter to give you. I had to do it personally." He handed him the folded piece of wrinkled paper from his pants pocket.

Mokuba took a seat on Seto's bed and smoothed the paper before reading it.

It was written in English. (1)

_Feliana,_

_The mermaid swam west but in the end she chose to return to the east. Her heart was in conflict when she met him. However she has a duty and a destiny to fulfill. Never forget that._

_Love, _

_Aquiminthe_

Katsuya didn't understand the note at all, but Seto assured him that Mokuba would understand. Seto also told him to tell Mokuba what was going on if he asked. He watched Mokuba intently as he read the note, wondering if Mokuba really did understand that gibberish.

"Big Brother he…" Mokuba's eyes were serious now and he turned to direct them at Katsuya. _He's back._

"He what?"

Mokuba got up from the bed and tapped the intercom again. "Hiro, take Yugi to the game room instead of bringing him back here. We'll meet him there soon."

Another 'Yes, Master Mokuba' was heard again.

"Tell me what's going on. Does it have to do with Eimei?" Mokuba asked as he returned to the bed.

"Eimei? What? The console company that makes Ascendancy?" _Wasn't it YamamotoCorp?_

"Something felt weird about Kaiba Corporation lately so I checked it out. There were hacking attempts from Eimei."

_And Kaiba didn't know about this? Unbelievable!_

"Is it even safe to be talking about this here?" He looked around insecurely and then leaned to Mokuba's ear. "_Aren't there spies?_" he whispered.

"What? No. Why would there be? No one can get to Big Brother's room, the security is too tight."

But that doesn't explain why Seto didn't tell Mokuba about this whole façade in the beginning. He could've easily just brought Mokuba into his room and explained his plans. But then again, Seto did say he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing. So why was he here doing this?

"Did Big Brother tell you there were spies?"

Katsuya nodded.

"Then there probably are. But I haven't noticed anything of that sort."

But… "Maybe they're only following him." Maybe Seto knew this. It was likely Seto would check up on Kaiba Corporation during the time he was Matsuo to find out if there were more spies around.

"Then their target may not solely be Kaiba Corporation. Big Brother might be their main target."

_Uh oh. That doesn't sound good at all._

"Wait. How did you know we thought the spy was after Kaiba Corporation?"

"It says in 'Aquiminthe's' letter." Mokuba pointed at the piece of paper. "What I got from it is, something is happening to our company and Big Brother has returned but still is carrying out his plan."

Katsuya arched an eyebrow and his mouth parted in shock at this news. How in the world did that note equate into what Mokuba just said? How would anyone conclude to company secret missions from that message? Aquiminthe and Feliana were just mermaids from a fictional story.

"Don't worry about it, Jounouchi. It's Kaiba-code."

So apparently 'Kaiba-code' involves two mermaids. Right…

Katsuya wasn't going to ask.

* * *

Mokuba nodded as Katsuya explained Seto's story and how he was involved briefly, making sure to leave out a lot of the embarrassing details.

"So Big Brother included you because you accidentally caught him?"

"Yep."

"Jounouchi can you do me a favour and give this note to my big brother?"

Mokuba took a pen from Seto's desk and wrote on the back of the note Katsuya had given him.

_Aquiminthe,_

_Feliana will always be the sister who loves and supports you. Don't forget that._

_However, let us walk a different path._

_Love,_

_Feliana_

Katsuya stared at the note, reading the English slowly in his mind, trying to comprehend its meaning. He wasn't fluent but he knew enough from school and past experiences to figure it out. He shrugged and stuffed it in his pocket after Mokuba handed it to him. Unlike Seto's message, it was probably just a reminder to Seto that Mokuba loved him, no other weird meanings.

"Thanks," Mokuba said with a smile.

"No problem. I better go now or else I'm going to be late for work."

"What about Yugi? He's still waiting in the game room."

Katsuya checked his watch. "We didn't make him wait _too_ long. I guess I can still spare another fifteen minutes before heading to work…"

"Don't worry about it. I'll have someone drive you over so you won't be late. Let's just go have some fun in the game room with Yugi for now."

"Okay!" He grinned.

Mokuba smiled and led the way. _Big Brother… I hate the story of Aquiminthe…_

* * *

"Here's this lovely lady's chocolate-strawberry milkshake." Katsuya placed the order in front of the girl with curly pink hair. "And here's a Shirley Temple for this cute princess."

The girls giggled and thanked him.

He was pretty much lost in thought most of the night. His mind wouldn't stop thinking about the things Mokuba had told him. What if YamamotoCorp wasn't the real enemy or what if there was more than one company against them?

He walked over to another table and placed a dish of spicy chicken wings on the table and a cup of hot chocolate in front of one of the customers. "Here's your order, miss."

"I'm the one who ordered the hot chocolate," the girl in the next seat said.

_Ah Shit._ "I'm so sorry!" Katsuya moved the hot chocolate in front of the other girl and bowed to her as an apology.

Isamu, the host at that table, looked at Katsuya with concern since this wasn't the first time this afternoon where he messed up an order. It wasn't like Katsuya to mess up this much. Something's on his mind and it was bothering him.

"Jounouchi, you can't just daze out because these girls are so cute. You still have to serve them."

The girls looked to Isamu.

"Sorry, girls. Jounouchi's always in a daze when he sees cute girls like yourselves."

"We're not cute," one of the girls said while blushing.

"I apologize," Katsuya said with a smile. "I am guilty of it. You girls really are too cute. It makes my brain unable to register my surroundings properly."

"Trust me when I say you're cute," Isamu added. And Katsuya knew they would. For some reason girls always find Isamu 'cool' even though he was really just a very sweet and laid-back kind of guy. But he supposed that Isamu did have a very 'cool' air around him. It was also so amusing how these lines actually worked in Amaranthine. It must be due to the fantasy-like environment and the gorgeous men.

As predicted, the girls giggled in their seats.

"You boys and your lame corny words," the other girl teased.

"You can't deny that you like it." Isamu said as he leaned in a bit closer to the girl who said that. She blushed and backed up a bit as a reflex. Isamu smiled. "Well, you girls better eat those chicken wings before they get cold."

* * *

He fell onto the couch in the break room and sighed. He was tired. It was his break and he was glad he had not made any really big mistakes yet. He really had to start concentrating on his work more.

"Jounouchi! Your hair!" Mai's voice thundered in the room, causing Katsuya to jump and break from his thoughts. His hands frantically searched his apron for his comb.

Mai broke down into laughter when she saw Katsuya's reaction. "I..." She attempted to start but ended up laughing again.

Katsuya sat up from the couch and turned to face Mai. He was confused but he was combing his hair anyways.

"I can't believe Sato was right," she managed to say between her laughing. She was slowly calming down.

"Jin Jin's right about what?" He put his comb away.

"Sato told me that you were extremely paranoid about your hair because of me. He probably exaggerated though. I doubt you're _extremely_ paranoid."

Katsuya sank back into his seat and ran his hand through his hair, messing it up in frustration. "Why do you all pick on me?" he mumbled it to himself.

"I'm sorry, Jounouchi. Your hair is lovely as it is, so you don't need to be paranoid."

"I'm not paranoid!" He wasn't!

Mai laughed again. "Yeah, yeah. Sato said it was because I was nagging you about it so much in the beginning."

"It's all your fault." He was half joking.

Mai stayed silent and took a seat next to Katsuya.

"Even Yugi says I look pretty."

"I wouldn't have hired you as a waiter even if you were a dear friend if you didn't have the looks. You were always pretty, Jounouchi. You were and always will be pretty but you also were and always will be a man in my heart." She rested her hand on top of Katsuya's, giving it a light squeeze. "A real man."

Katsuya gave her a smile.

"So don't worry about it and just relax when you're down there."

_What?_

"Sato was worried about you I think. Even if it seems like he's always just being an ass, he really just wanted you to be at ease."

_Oh, she thought I was upset over the whole 'looks' thing so I couldn't concentrate on work. _

"You got it all wrong, Mai." _It's completely off._

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not _that_ bothered by it. I know you're all just joking."

"That's good then." She thought for a moment. "What was bothering you then?"

"Uh. Don't worry about it." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm just tired." It was probably best to change the subject. "So why are you up here, Mai? You didn't just come up here to tell me I was a man, right?"

"Actually I originally came up to check on Shimizu."

"He's in here?" He didn't notice him at all.

"He came up just before you did. His customer spilled his drink on his clothes so he came up to change."

"What's taking so long then?" He looked towards the change room. There really was someone in there.

"Shimizu. Come out already."

Yuki stepped out of the change room and Katsuya's eyes widened at the sight.

"You two were talking so I didn't want to come out and interrupt." And he would've interrupted them for sure.

"What are…" Katsuya blinked. "Is that a Chinese bra?" (2)

"See? This is exactly why I didn't want to come out until you were done." He was flustered.

Yuki was in a stylized yellow kimono that otherwise would've displayed his chest if he wasn't wearing a silky light-blue Chinese bra.

"New outfit?" Katsuya asked as he stared. He has never seen Yuki in that kimono before.

"Stop being a perv." Yuki folded his arms across his chest.

"_What_? I did not deserve that insult."

"He was joking, Jounouchi," Mai explained. "But it's not like you're not one."

How can anyone tell? He said it so seriously. Yuki was always confusing like that. He seems like someone who's always serious, like Seto. Sometimes he would be joking, but you just couldn't tell.

Just then Isamu dashed up the stairs for his break. He stopped in front of the couch and dropped down onto it next to Katsuya.

"Whoa, Yuki. Your customers are waiting and they're going to jump you if you go down there like that."

"All my other outfits are in the wash. Mai told me to wear this new one." Yuki was hesitant about returning to the floor as well. "Isn't there something else I can wear?"

"You can borrow something from me if you like," Isamu offered.

"I think you should go down there like that, Shimizu." Mai was serious. "I think your reservation rate will increase a lot if people saw you in that. You look beautiful in it. Although I don't remember the bra being a part of the outfit. It's a nice touch though."

Katsuya and Isamu looked at each other with a grin on their faces.

"You wear Chinese bras normally don't you, Yuki?" Isamu asked. Yuki flustered more at this question. He chose not to answer and left the break room. Everyone then turned to look at Isamu.

"What?" Isamu crossed his forearms in front of his chest as defense. "It's not my fault."

Katsuya gave him an 'it's okay, man' pat on his shoulder.

"Wait a minute." Isamu turned to look at Mai. "You wanted him to wear a kimono that reveals his chest?"

"Actually there was something to wear underneath it. I don't know why he chose not to wear it though."

And everybody went silent. The answer was obvious. The bra was prettier. They only shook their heads.

* * *

This was weird. This was really _really_ weird. Everyone will be staring at him if he just strolled up the stairs… or elevator and asked to see Matsuo. To be delivering him dinner of all things. It feels more like task fit for a lover rather than a friend. It's especially weird because everyone knew Matsuo was gay. Having another man deliver dinner to a gay man… Oh man.

Katsuya was walking around in circles outside the building. It was almost time for everyone in the offices to get off work. Maybe he should wait until they were gone before delivering. Seto was planning to work overtime anyways so it wouldn't matter if he just delivered it later.

"Um, Sir." The security guard tapped him on the shoulder, startling Katsuya and made him jump. "Do you have business at Hayasa?"

"Oh. I'm just a bit lost. I don't know how to get to the um..." Katsuya rubbed the back of his head. "The um, programming department." Which was a lie because it wasn't hard to get to at all according to the map Seto showed him last night. But he needed some sort of excuse to be walking back and forth in front of the building. Not that that excuse was any good…

The security guard raised his eyebrows; his suspicion meter probably rising higher.

"I have a friend who works here and I'm a bit nervous." He held up the dinner. "I brought my friend some dinner since my friend's staying overtime. I'm just a bit nervous about going in."

The security guard instantly brightened up with great blinding radiance. Seriously. "Chasing after a girl huh? Ah young love. Just like the fresh breeze along the seaside." He patted Katsuya on the back. "Don't be nervous, young man. She'll love it for sure. It's a sweet idea. Like they say, 'the way to a man's heart is through the stomach', it works for women too. I know this from personal experience of course. You see my wife and I…"

Man this guy loves to ramble. Katsuya zoned him out and wasn't sure what to say so he just smiled and nodded along.

"…So then she told me that her love for me was like apple pie. Sweet, chunky and gooey in the inside and fluffy soft on the outside. We were in love and got married the following spring. Haha. I'm sorry for rambling. But anyways, let me take you inside to the department. It's not that hard to get to."

Katsuya felt dizzy listening to that insane rant from the security guard. Was his tactic 'ramble to the troublemakers to scare them off'?

He was ushered into the building just as a bunch of workers were leaving. They were off work now. Well at least the ranting did some good; he had an excuse to why he took so long. Not that Seto would care anyways.

They took the elevator of course, but at that moment, Katsuya wished he took the stairs. At least then he could escape and say he could get to the department by himself. But no, now he's stuck in a small and closed space with a rambling security guard. Maybe he was going to become claustrophobic after this.

The security gave a jolly laugh, kind of like Santa Claus. Katsuya was trying really hard to zone the rambling man's speech out that he forced himself to think about other things. Things like what 'Seto' rhymed with. Things that didn't make sense whatsoever. Anything. Just anything.

_Damn you, Kaiba! Damn you for being on the fifth floor!_

"…Last year's Christmas was beautiful. There was so much young love in the air. I took a vacation break then with my family and we all went skiing. I definitely recommend going skiing with that girl you're trying to catch." He gave a thumbs up. "Girls love the stars. Plus it's cold so they'll snuggle up to you. Oh look. We're here."

The elevator door slowly opened. It felt slower than usual. Katsuya was feeling impatient; he was tempted to just run into the wall, hoping he can walk through it. But he managed to refrain himself.

He stepped out of the elevator and glanced around the office. Only a few workers were left and they were all packing up and getting ready to leave.

"Oh, so who's the lucky girl?" the security guard suddenly asked, which made Katsuya jump again. _Why_ was he still _there_? The security guard looked around. No one looked like they were staying overtime.

"Hey! Aren't you that waiter from Amaranthine?" One of the female workers spoke up.

_Oh shit. How could they have that great of a memory?_

"Y…yeah…" Was the only thing Katsuya could choke out.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she put her folders away.

"I'm here to deliver some food to Matsuo."

The security guard gasped. "Oh! I am so sorry! All this time I assumed it was a lucky lady! I didn't know it was for the head of programming. But no worries! The way to a man's stomach is… wait I got that wrong. The way to a man's heart is through the stomach after all! You're on the right track!" He gave his thumbs up again as a good luck sign.

_What is wrong with this guy?_

"I'll um… That's his office right?" He pointed at the little office. "I'll just go in now." And he did. Without knocking. He quickly closed the door behind him right after too. He swore he heard the girls giggling when he went in.

Seto frowned as he looked up from his desk. The CEO was obviously not pleased with him entering without knocking. But did it really matter? It wasn't like he was going to walk into anything obscene... Yeah, it probably mattered. Katsuya mentally sighed.

"I brought your meal?" Katsuya smiled, uneasy with the hostile atmosphere surrounding Seto.

"You should knock."

"Sorry. I got scared." He took the seat in front of Seto's desk and sat down, placing the food on the table.

"Scared of what?"

"The security guard. He kept rambling his whole life story to me."

Seto immediately understood and responded with silence. Instead, he took the boxed meal out of the plastic bag and opened it up. Pasta.

"Chicken Alfredo Primavera." Katsuya said with a grin. "Try it! I already had some before coming here. I got off work a little early today."

Seto took the plastic fork and picked up some of the pasta. Just when he was about to take a bite, the door to his office swung open again. No warning of course. Which pissed Seto off.

"Oh darn! We were hoping to find some hot make out scene if we just suddenly walked in." Miss Double-D explained breezily to the duo.

Rice Krispies squealed. "But look! He made dinner for Matsuo."

"I told you he was seme." Miss Double-D gloated.

"Um…I'm not-" Katsuya tried to explain but was cut off by Miss Double-D.

"No need to explain. We understand. We'll leave now. Bye, Matsuo!" She tossed him a wink. "Good luck!"

The rest of the girls left as well, giggling and whispering to each other as they left into the elevator.

"Freaks." It was Seto. He ignored all of them and was eating while the whole thing was happening.

Katsuya got up to close the door again.

"Man, her boobs were like melons. What was that? A DD?"

_Do you like it like that, Bonkotsu?_ He chose not to respond and continued eating his meal. It was delicious and surprisingly really warm for a delivery.

"Maybe we should call her Miss Double-D." Katsuya grinned. "What do you think, Matsuo?"

Seto forced himself to keep his smile inside. "That's what I would call her."

Katsuya laughed, leaning forward in his seat. He wanted to ask Seto what he thought about the meal but he didn't know if he should.

"I visited 'you-know-who' today and told him about 'you-know-what'." He decided to just get business over with.

Seto looked up from his food.

"He has a note for you." He took the extremely wrinkled paper out of his pocket and handed it to Seto.

Seto picked up the glass of water that was sitting on his desk and drank from it. Just when he read the note, he almost spat his water out but ended up nearly choking instead. He started coughing as his throat was trying to dispel the water from his trachea.

"Whoa! What's wrong, Matsuo? Are you okay?" Katsuya got up from his seat but sat back down when Seto waved his arm, motioning that he was okay.

"What did 'you-know-who' tell you?" Seto soon said.

He leaned closer to whisper. "Is it safe to talk?"

"I suppose it's safer to keep our voices low," he said in a soft voice.

Everyone in his department was gone. It was possible that a few other associates in other departments could be pulling an unpaid overtime too (usually to rush unfinished projects that were due soon) but if they kept quiet, they would be safe.

Katsuya nodded. "He told me that Eimei has been trying to hack into Kaiba Corporation."

Seto's eyes widened. "_What_?" He still managed to keep his voice low. "_Eimei_? Why would Eimei do something like that? Eimei has always been a very passive company."

He shrugged. "I don't know. That's what he told me."

"Eimei shouldn't have any personal grudges against me." Seto stared at the note again. "The note says he's going to look into it so we should be okay on that side."

"Where does it say anything like _that_?" What the hell? Was there a secret way to read the note or something? Was it meant to be read backwards? Should it be read by omitting every fifth word and second letter? He didn't get it. Maybe you just had to think like a Kaiba. And what exactly in the note made Seto almost choke on water? It didn't make sense!

"Don't worry about trying to understand it." He started to eat again. "We'll do our work a little later. It'll be safer then. While I eat, paper clip these files for me the way I do for the files in this folder."

"Okay…" What was he, his errand boy?

* * *

Nothing. He found nothing.

Seto had been hacking through files and doing searches through the database. He did everything. Hayasa appeared to be innocent. But that doesn't mean YamamotoCorp was innocent. It couldn't be Eimei. It didn't make sense to be Eimei. It _had_ to be YamamotoCorp. Seto just knew it had to be. But he knew Mokuba wouldn't joke around with something like finding a hack attempt. So what does this all mean?

It was late. Already 8:30 pm. He got up from his desk and walked over to Katsuya who fell asleep on his chair. He removed the jacket that he laid over top Katsuya's shoulders and slipped it back on. It felt really warm and he felt stupid for feeling slightly happy about that warmth seeping into his body.

"Katsuya…" He shook him gently but Katsuya didn't wake up. He leaned in and placed a soft lingering kiss on his crush's cheek. He felt stupid again for doing such silly things. But what bothered him most was the fact that his heart raced a bit. He was a foolish man…

He suddenly remembered Mokuba's note. _"However, let us walk a different path."_ There was just no way Seto could do that when there wasn't another path to walk. It was impossible.

"Get up or I'll lock you in my office!" He kicked the side of Katsuya's chair.

And Katsuya woke up.

* * *

**Notes:** Can you tell I love describing interior design? XD Ohohoho. For Seto's bed frame, think "black grand piano". Mmm sexy polished black ebony. XD I had to tie myself down so I didn't go on to describe the bathroom too. But trust me, it's beautiful in my mind.

I know I keep calling Jounouchi "pretty" in this chapter. Sorry if you disagree. I honestly think he's manly though. He makes me swoon when he does something manly XD… I am an insane Jounouchi fan. Look how manly he looks in my weird sketch of him with Seto in ribbons. (Well I think he looks manly in that :( …)

Something random… What does "Seto" rhyme with aside from "ghetto"? I've been trying to come up with words that rhyme with "Seto" since my friend brought up that "Seto" only rhymed with "ghetto".

I know "Katsuya" rhymes with "hot", "sexy", "adorable", "cute", "omg wow". -Gets hit by everyone- I'm just kidding. (Yeah, yeah, Seto rhymes with those ones too.) XD

I deserve to have rocks thrown at me for liking Jounouchi that much. (Please don't throw rocks at me.)

* * *

(1) Yeah I know that sounds weird since this whole thing is English…but just pretend XD…

(2) Uh. I don't exactly know how to explain this if you don't know what they are. They're silk and they have embroidery on them… They kind of look like bibs but they have a few styles… There are a few weird people these days that wear them as tops out in public… (Don't they know they're walking around in a bra?) Anyways, Chinese bras are pretty so if you don't know what they look like, try googling it or something. Haha. Sorry.

If I ever draw Yuki, I'll draw him in one. XD;…


	6. The One Who Weaved An Illusion

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I should explain how I'm portraying Kaiba just in case. I hope Kaiba isn't too odd to people who are reading this so far because he finds chasing after Katsuya impossible. I believe that Kaiba is a man who would go after the things he wants. What he wants he will go and do whatever it takes to get. However, I don't believe he is someone who is stupid enough to go for things that he truly believes are impossible. There is no reason for him to believe that Jounouchi is gay. I am setting this story after the actual Duel Monsters series in which Jounouchi was never the type to appear as a man who was interested in other men. (Kaiba on the other hand ohohoho… him and his teasing ;D) Aside from hugging Yugi too much and being too close of a pal to Honda sometimes, he doesn't come off as a homosexual. (He's bisexual! Kaiba still has no reason to think he is this either though.)

Anyways, if Kaiba truly thinks of Jounouchi as a straight man, then why would he go after him? I doubt Kaiba would waste his time over a game of "Let's make Jounouchi gay"…which is almost impossible. Too many times have people in the past tried to change someone's sexuality and failed. Also, about wasting time, Kaiba has much more important things to pursue like his company goals than to waste time on trivial matters like love. He would just wait for it to fade.

Another thing is, such a relationship would probably bring a lot of trouble to his company and… something else I can't say yet because I would be spoiling… But there's another reason why Kaiba doesn't pursue Jounouchi crazily in my fanfic. He has far too many reasons against it than for it. He's logical and business savvy; he would choose the "better" path.

I hope I'm making sense… and I hope you're not all protesting thinking it's all wrong and dumb and I have Kaiba all wrong. ;.; Sorry. (More explanation on why my story is structured the way it is in the next chapter.)

The next thing I want to explain is Jounouchi's home. I'm not sure if he lives in an apartment or a house. Most people favour apartment in their fics and he is only living with his dad so I chose to put him in one of those. His house is not trashy and in the worst part of town though. It doesn't look like shit in the anime to me. Every time we saw parts of Jounouchi's house it was super neat and normal-looking. If he's supposed to live in a house, then let's say he just moved into an apartment with his dad some time. XD;…-cough- But an apartment seems to suit their father-and-son living style better.

**The One Who Weaved An Illusion**

It was 9:33pm on September 9th… A Tuesday. The seconds hand on the clock was ticking by a lot slower than usual. It has only been a week. A single chain of seven days. So why? Why did he miss him as much as he missed Mokuba?

He hated it. Hated Katsuya for it. It was absurd how something like a crush which was meant to spawn good feelings, bring out so much hate. Or maybe it was only him; he was always big on hate.

He gripped the arms of his chair and glared at his laptop screen. For a whole week, he had not seen Katsuya. But what was the big deal? He had been through this a lot longer in the past. The only difference now was that he didn't have a heap of Kaiba Land work to worry about and Mokuba wasn't with him… Fuck. This was stupid.

He stared at the clock again. 9:34pm. Great. Maybe he should just head to bed. He didn't even know how long this 'absence' that Katsuya was on would last. He had completed the plan for his infiltration on YamamotoCorp; the only thing left was to find a day to have it consummated.

Getting up and without turning his laptop off, he headed to his bathroom to prepare for bed.

It was ridiculous to miss someone just because you had not seen them for a week. If he had never bumped into Katsuya through his whole mission, would he be feeling the way he was now? He went through a year just fine. Mokuba and his work were everything he needed and everything that kept him busy.

He brushed his teeth well in gentle rotating motions without even thinking about it. He was used to being in deep thought during daily routines.

Katsuya wasn't absolutely necessary to his plan; he could carry it out himself, but having him around was advantageous, even if he didn't want to admit it.

He wanted to see him again. He shouldn't care whether Katsuya was done with whatever he had to do for the week. What mattered was his plan and getting rid of those sour feelings inside of him.

He dried his face with his towel and stared at himself in the mirror. There was no time to be idling around and waiting; he should carry out his plan immediately. Whether Katsuya liked it or not, he should just go and tell him about his arrangements rather than waiting for Katsuya to come to him. He also needed him to do a few things as well.

Seto opened the closet doors and looked at his clothes contemplatively. He finally decided on a simple blue dress shirt and black pants since he wasn't going to be out for long and changed into them.

Walking into the living room, he slipped into his jacket (the same one he laid over Katsuya a week ago). He was about to leave until his eyes met the phone.

Should he call first? He knew he personally preferred advance warning before someone stumbled into his face but he himself wasn't exactly the considerate type. However it would be beneficial for him to call beforehand. It would be a waste of time to make a trip to Katsuya's if for some reason he wasn't home or absolutely could not have guests over.

He looked up Katsuya's number on his laptop and then picked up the receiver to dial it. It took two rings before someone picked up.

"Hello?" Luckily it was Katsuya.

"Bonkotsu."

"Ka-_Eh_?" His voice was too loud over the phone. "Did something happen? Why are you calling?"

Maybe Katsuya didn't deserve advance notice. With that thought, he returned the receiver to its resting place. At least he knew Katsuya was home. But then again… He picked it up again and punched the redial button. It took two rings again before he received a response.

"Hello?"

"I'm coming over." That should be enough warning.

"What the _hell_ was that just now?"

"Bye." He hung up. Katsuya didn't say he couldn't visit after all.

Grabbing the keys from his coffee table, he left the empty silent house.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Katsuya rubbed the back of his head, confused. He turned his phone off and placed it back down. He should probably inform his father.

Katsuya had been extremely busy the entire week; hence he wasn't able to visit Seto. He had already told Seto about it and figured it wouldn't matter since most likely Seto wouldn't care. Shizuka was visiting soon so he _had_ to force himself to finish watching 'Her Grace'. He had been cramming all 57 episodes whenever he could, leaving him with no spare time to do anything else when he wasn't at work. Shizuka would be upset if he didn't watch them when he said he would. He wouldn't want that. He would rather suffer through romance dramas. Hiroto was going to be visiting at the same time too and he also 'loved' these dramas as much as Shizuka did. Most likely Hiroto only watches them to score points with his sister. That bastard.

"Dad," he called out towards the living room. "There's going to be a friend over in a moment."

His dad only hollered an 'okay' as a response.

He normally didn't have people over. Hiroto really was the only one. His house wasn't cool or anything so when they usually hung out at someone's place they went to Yugi's. A game shop was definitely much cooler than his little apartment.

His father wasn't the best thing to show around either. He was usually drunk and sometimes he could get kind of angry. His father also loved to gamble. Katsuya always had to work to help support that little family they had. However, his dad has been improving tremendously recently; he had been trying to quit his horrible habits and become a better man. Katsuya played poker with his dad sometimes in hope it would be good enough to feed his gambling craves. It really wasn't but it was better than nothing.

The first time his father ever thought about changing was when Shizuka and his mother left them since his father was such a worthless man. He was drinking even more for a large period after the abandonment, but he eventually snapped out of it. He said something about 'not wanting that bitch look down on' him during his time of despair.

It was a slow process, but his dad stopped visiting casinos and gambling hangouts in shoddy areas. The alcohol addiction was harder to eliminate so they were still working on that one. Sometime during the year of Katsuya's senior year, his father was rushed into emergency at Domino Hospital; it was then when he was truly slapped into reality to face his alcohol addiction. The doctor informed them that if his father continued to drink in the amount he did, he may not be so lucky next time. He cried that time, telling Katsuya what a failure of a father, husband and man he was. Katsuya cried then too. His father had almost died.

Now, Katsuya's father was trying hard to be a better man. He was trying to pay off their accumulated debt with Katsuya and he was trying hard to make it up to his only son.

The annoying doorbell chime rang through the apartment and Katsuya got up from his bed and headed to the door. He wondered why Seto was visiting him so late. He had planned to go to bed soon and was ready for it too.

He unlocked the door and opened it. "Hey. What's up?" It was how he normally greeted Hiroto when he showed up at his door.

Seto wasn't sure what to say. "I wanted to inform you about some plans."

Just then, Katsuya's dad walked to the door.

"I thought it was going to be Honda." His dad smiled at Seto and Seto 'smiled' back. "Katsuya normally doesn't have other friends over."

Seto figured he probably should bow to Katsuya's father. He didn't want to but it would probably be extremely rude if he did not do so. So he bowed a bit. Damn cultural rules. He was used to people older than him bowing down to _him_.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Seto said in his best Matsuo act. He could tell Katsuya was trying hard not to laugh. That puppy was going to regret it once they get to somewhere more secluded.

"It's nice to meet you too…er…"

"Matsuo," Katsuya finally said. It was probably better to not mention Matsuo's 'first name'. "Anyways we're going to my room now, dad."

His dad only gave Seto a final smile before returning to the living room as Katsuya led Seto into his room.

"I've never seen you bow to anyone," Katsuya said once the door was closed.

"I figured it was better to not offend your father."

Katsuya laughed. "Nah. Dad's laidback."

Well that explained a lot about Katsuya's behaviours and manners.

Katsuya's room was a typical room. It was small and held a lot of stuff, but everything was neatly organized. The bed was a simple twin sized one with a set of green and white plaid covers. There was a bookshelf that was stacked with not only books but binders and other junk. He had a work desk with a few framed photos, a lamp and, in Seto's opinion, an ugly computer. He should get a new computer, or at least one with a flat screen. There were a few posters of Duel Monsters plastered on the wall and some other little things around the room, sitting by the window and other places.

"Is there a safe place to be discussing things?" Seto asked as he was scanning the room.

"Well… Dad will be sleeping at 10:30 so I guess if we just waited…" He slept at that time too though since he had to get up early everyday. The only days where his sleeping schedule was different were on Fridays and Saturdays where he worked late at Amaranthine and ended up crashing the bed whenever he got home. He took naps before work too sometimes.

Seto looked at the alarm clock next to Katsuya's bed. It was already a little past ten. Good.

"Let's try not to argue this time. Dad will never sleep if we're yelling at each other and it probably won't get anywhere plan-wise," Katsuya suggested suddenly. He really didn't want to argue tonight. He was tired and didn't want to put up with any 'Kaiba-shit'.

Seto didn't say anything so Katsuya just assumed it was an 'okay'.

"So um... How was your day?" Katsuya rubbed the back of his head; he wasn't sure what they should do before his dad went to bed. He climbed onto his bed and leaned against the wall.

"Next topic."

"Uh… Oh! What's the special thing about your room? Mokuba said your room was special but he didn't explain why."

Seto had to think for a moment before responding. "If you're lucky, I'll show you one day."

"Okay…" Seto was really a conversation killer. "Wanna watch something?"

"Wouldn't that keep your father from sleeping?"

"Damn." He had a point. What could they do or talk about? He needed something… Something they had common interest in. "Duel Monsters!"

"What about that?"

"Let's talk about duel strategies or something." He grinned. He knew Seto loved Duel Monsters as much as he did.

Seto had to think for a moment again. He wasn't sure what kind of 'strategy' talk they can have. If they were to play a game then he could point out things that Katsuya was doing wrong or ways to improve… but why would he do that?

"_However, let us walk a different path."_

Seto sighed inwardly. Perhaps he could look at Katsuya's deck and help him improve it. Only because it was Katsuya…

"Give me your deck," Seto responded, looking serious like he always was. He didn't go through the whole deck last time at Amaranthine since he was pretty much looking for that one card.

Katsuya reached into the backpack on the floor by his bed and took his deck out. He patted a spot on his bed before handing Seto the deck, motioning him to sit on the bed with him.

"I'll just sit on this chair." So he did before flipping through the cards. But what he really wanted to do was to sit next to Katsuya like he offered.

The deck was pretty well built. It looked like Katsuya knew what he was doing. His deck had a lot of risky cards but also contained a lot of potential strategy. There were a few cards that he didn't exactly need but probably would come in handy in certain situations. Seto could think of a few cards that Katsuya _should_ have in his deck if he really wanted it to improve; they would allow him to create even stronger combinations. They were pretty rare cards that would compliment his deck well so Katsuya probably doesn't have them in possession. Otherwise they would be in his deck. Of course, Katsuya's deck still can't defeat his powerful deck. Messenger of Peace might give him a rough time but there's no way his superior skills could lose to Katsuya. He smirked.

"What?" Katsuya blinked, confused why Seto suddenly smirked. His deck wasn't _bad_. At least he didn't think so.

Seto didn't answer him. "I don't think you need these three cards." He placed them on Katsuya's bed. "They're a bit outdated for strategy. You need to get a few more of the newer magic and trap cards to boost your deck. And if you can, I recommend getting 'Inferno Fire Blast' since you're still using your Red-Eyes."

It puzzled him why Katsuya chose to have so many pathetic looking monsters like the Landstars and Little-Winguard in his deck. He would only put the strong and fierce in his. Even his low levelled types had to be mighty. (1)

Katsuya nodded, a bit surprised that Seto was actually giving him feedback. "Thanks, man. 'Inferno Fire Blast' would be sweet if I could actually get that card."

"I could maybe write a list for you next time of some cards that you can consider adding to your deck since you're unable to construct your own strategies." He was being too friendly tonight.

"Shut up, Tatsuya." He was smiling when he said it though. He was really happy that 'The Great Kaiba Seto' actually wasted a few minutes of his time to look at his 'lowly deck'. It meant a lot when it came from Seto, even if the jerk had to be patronizing at the end of it all.

The sudden use of Matsuo's name startled Seto for a second. Katsuya had a smirk on his face and was trying hard not to burst out laughing since his dad was probably trying to get some sleep.

It was a mistake to have chosen that name. It was only chosen out of amusement that time. He should've called himself 'Fubuki' or something. (2)

Seto frowned. Suddenly deciding that being nicer to Katsuya was a bad idea. At least now Mokuba can't say he didn't try.

"Hey," Katsuya suddenly began, "do you like curry and rice?"

"No preference." It wasn't his style to ask why, especially in idle talk. Knowing Katsuya, he would probably explain it afterwards anyways.

"It's my favourite! I'll make some for you next time. It's my best dish too." He was getting hungry just thinking about it.

This made Seto feel strangely 'content'. However, he should probably get down to business, rather than dwell on foreign emotions. There were a few things he needed to ask Katsuya. First of all…

"When are you free?"

"Eh?" Katsuya blinked. "Well… I should be free after tomorrow… kind of."

He waited for Katsuya to elaborate.

"Shizuka is coming tomorrow so there are things I have to do. And I'm never exactly free. There's always _something_ to do." He had to spend time with his father now. He never had to before. They somewhat ignored each other a lot in the past. Aside from the schoolwork when school was in and his paperboy job, the rest of his time was spent with his friends. He had other jobs in the past but his devotion to Duel Monsters didn't allow him to earn as much money as he did before to support himself through school and help out with their household bills and debts. His father's job was unstable but he was still hanging on. Like in every other area where his father used to fail in, he was improving a lot in his career too.

"First I need a date from you for dinner."

"For what?" He heard wrong, right?

"Dinner."

"Dinner?" Was this one of those 'Kaiba-code' things?

"I want to take you out for dinner, mutt. Was that easier to comprehend?" He crossed his arms and legs, getting impatient.

"Why? Is it related to…" He made a strange gesture, trying to indicate that he meant the mission. _And quit with the stupid 'mutt' thing!_

"I don't want to owe you anything. I'm repaying you for food."

"That's okay, man. I don't mind." He leaned forward from his bed and patted Seto's shoulder as he said that.

Seto looked at his shoulder and then glared at Katsuya. "Date."

"We're going on a date?" Katsuya joked.

Seto only continued to glare. He liked the sound of 'date' though.

"Okay, okay. I don't think I have much planned for the coming evenings but just in case…" Katsuya took out his agenda from his backpack. "The closest dates I have free are Thursday night and Sunday night… You can choose any day after that as long as it's not Friday or Saturday." His week gets booked up fast. Jin and Seiichi frequently asked him for his availability to hang out. Then there were house chores to do, days to spend with his father, days to see Shizuka, days to simply relax and then time to make calls to his old friends, and sometimes actually to see each other (they rarely hung out as a group now of course)… the list went on.

"Sunday 7:00pm. I'll borrow someone's car so we don't need to suffer."

Katsuya nodded and added it to his agenda. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Seto glanced at the clock. It was a little past eleven now. "Go check if your father is still awake."

"Just a sec." Katsuya climbed off his bed and stretched, yawning in the process. He was so goddamn tired now. "Do you need some water? I'm going to get some while I check on Dad."

After Seto nodded, Katsuya left the room.

* * *

"Here." He held the glass of water in front of Seto who accepted it without thanking him. "Dad's asleep."

"Good." Seto's tone became serious. "First, I need to know if 'you-know-who' has said anything to you. I need you to visit him again if he hasn't."

Katsuya climbed back onto his bed. "What? Didn't you get the note? I stuck it in your paper three days ago."

The CEO was silent for a moment. "You…" How can Katsuya treat a note of such importance like that? Anything can be easily lost that way. For the sake of getting things done and over with, he wasn't going to blow…if it was just a note from Mokuba.

That didn't sound good at all. Katsuya grabbed onto his pillow just in case.

"No. I didn't get it. Was it a note from 'you-know-who'?"

Katsuya nodded, still holding on to the pillow next to him.

"What did it say?" No one would understand a note from Mokuba so it was safe even if someone picked it up.

"Uh…" He was relieved that Seto didn't snap. Seto should've received it though. He stuck it in the business section. Maybe he should've taped it on. "I can't remember it exactly and I can't remember it in English for sure. It mentioned something about the Souichirou guy and something about 'disappearing'." Souichirou was a male Japanese stage actor in the mermaid story.

"'Imperishable Kingdom' you mean?"

"Yeah! That's it!" He was grinning again.

"Hmm. I'll have to look at that note. So far it doesn't sound very good…" He'll have to search for it once he gets back to his apartment. Good thing he normally doesn't throw out his recyclables until they pile up enough in his box.

"Hey. We should keep our voices very low. Like whispering-low." Katsuya peered outside his window. "People might hear us this late at night. These walls aren't very soundproof."

He nodded and began to speak softly, "I'm going to explain our plan. We're going to have to infiltrate Yamamoto-"

"I can't hear you. Just sit on the bed so you're closer."

Seto could tell Katsuya was growing more sleepy as he was blinking a lot more and slowly too. He climbed onto the bed and sat next to Katsuya without arguing this time.

"You need a new bed." It sunk a bit when he sat on it. It must feel like shit when slept on.

"Well, I'm _sorry_ I don't have silky sheets like you do."

Seto's brow furrowed. "You went into my room?" His tone was dangerous.

_Ah shit._ Oh well... He shrugged it off. What was done was done. "Your pyjamas were cute."

Katsuya couldn't tell if Seto was slightly flushed because he was embarrassed, extremely angry or both. It looked more like he was angry though.

Seto's hands were made into fists. He couldn't believe it! Mokuba let Katsuya into his room and showed him that _outfit_? His pride!

"Hey, chill." Katsuya waved his hands in front of him. "If it makes you feel better…" He reached behind his giant pillow and pulled out an adorable stuffed bear plush. "Meet Takoyaki." (3)

Seto raised a brow. "You named a stuffed animal after food?" What was he doing?

"I didn't name it! Shizuka did! She loves that stuff." He grinned. "This is Shizuka's bear. I sleep next to it every night." He rubbed his eyes, which were getting heavier.

Seto was rendered speechless. Why was Katsuya degrading his pride like this? It did make him feel better though. Katsuya could've used that information against him. Even though Seto probably could ruin him before that could ever happen. Could he really do that to Katsuya though? Maybe being nice to him was just another attempt from Katsuya to fill up that friendship gap he was missing…

"It was the only thing she left behind…" He held the bear close and smiled gently. "When Mom took her away, she wouldn't let Shizuka take this bear. It was Shizuka's favourite but it was given to her from Dad, so naturally Mom didn't want to bring it with her."

Seto didn't respond. Instead he turned to stare out the window in Katsuya's room. He understood how it felt. He probably would've slept with the bear too if it was the only thing Mokuba left behind.

"So there. We're even now. We both know each other's embarrassing secret." He smiled and shifted over to sit right next to Seto.

Even if he didn't want to, his eyes were traveling over Katsuya. They were right next to each other…on a bed. "We're going to go infiltrate YamamotoCorp on Thursday night." Seto changed the subject.

"Night? What time?"

"Probably when it's dark out and everyone is completely gone. Probably best at midnight."

Katsuya didn't like the sound of that. He's going to be super tired if they went at midnight! He would have to readjust his schedule so he wouldn't be falling asleep during the wrong times.

"The security is simple. There are cameras everywhere but I will work on hacking into their system to deal with things like the cameras. Your job is to help us get into the building and through it."

Wow he actually gets to do something that isn't cooking dinner and paper clipping documents. He yawned.

"You mean picking locks?"

Seto nodded. "And some searching around."

_That's so cool! Finally some action._ His eyes were getting even heavier despite the excitement. Although the excitement was probably the only thing keeping him awake at the moment.

Seto looked directly forward as he continued to explain his plans. He had to or else he would keep staring at Katsuya, which was not a good idea. "The cameras auto delete every hour if nothing happens. If something does occur, for example, if an individual sauntered by one of them, it would erase everything except for that particular moment. The final video of the day would be a collection of things that happened. This way there wouldn't be huge gaps with nothing happening in their recordings."

_Sounds so high-tech… _Were his eyes closed? He wasn't too sure anymore. It was okay though, right? To close his eyes just for a bit…

"We will take advantage of the fact that it erases every hour. I will program them to erase everything, regardless if something happens, every hour. That way if there is a history log on the camera's activity, it would not look suspicious. The main problem is the cameras on each floor probably have different passwords on them, so I might have to program them as we go. There is tighter security in certain areas of the building which don't only have cameras so don't wander off too much."

Katsuya nodded slowly. He was so glad they didn't fight this time. Seto was speaking really softly and it felt so warm where he was. Really warm…

"The cameras inside are the least of our problems. The ones outside-" Seto stiffened when he felt something warm fall onto his shoulder lightly. He turned his head and found Katsuya leaning against him. The blond had fallen asleep, just when he started explaining the important part of the plan. He grumbled softly, unpleased that he wasn't able to finish explaining his plan. He was hovering between dislike and like over the uncomfortable feelings growing in the pit of his stomach.

His gaze fell lower and he sat there motionless, not moving even the slightest inch. Oddly, he didn't want to wake Katsuya up and desired things to remain this way. He watched Katsuya sleep, taking note of every detail. Katsuya's hair was really soft and felt nice brushing against his skin. His chest rose and dropped rhythmically and softly while his breathing was peaceful. His body looked limp since he was slightly slouching and his arms were dropped to his side. It looked uncomfortable to be in that position, just leaning against someone and the hard wall like that. He should probably position Katsuya on the mattress properly… maybe in thirty minutes. Actually he should just wake him up after thirty minutes since he had to return to his own apartment.

He wanted to rest his head on top of Katsuya's but was afraid it might wake him up. It was unlikely that Katsuya would wake up though, he tend to sleep like a log. He finally shifted so they were in a more comfortable position. He rested Katsuya against his chest and wrapped his arms around him. This was surprisingly nice.

He closed his eyes, drowning in this temporary bliss. This was probably the only way he would ever get to feel intimate with Katsuya—only when the other was unaware of it. The thought of this made everything feel even more stupid, but right now he wasn't going to care. Right now, he was only going to enshroud himself in this warmth.

If he never stumbled upon Katsuya throughout his mission and stayed in that apartment alone tonight, he probably would've missed him anyways. His thoughts would have carried him that way…

* * *

He opened his eyes slowly, feeling slightly like shit. Everything was dark, his head was bothering him and his back ached. He groaned and tried to get up but he couldn't yet, he needed to rest his back a bit. There was something heavy and warm on his chest too…even around his legs.

His eyes widened when he realized where he was and who he was with. He was lying on Katsuya's low-grade bed without a pillow and in an odd position, which explained his back pains. Katsuya had an arm over his chest and their legs were tangled. He couldn't believe he actually fell asleep with Katsuya in his arms on a piece of crap!

Wait. Who turned out the lights? Katsuya couldn't have woken up to do that simple action. Did his father…

Groaning again, he slowly turned to stare at the clock. _Three_ in the morning? Katsuya was probably going to be up in two more hours or so. He tried to turn and look at Katsuya but he was nuzzling against his neck. He was probably a replacement for Takoyaki at the moment. Who would've thought that the puppy liked to snuggle?

It could've been worse, Katsuya could have been drooling. He slowly untangled their limbs and removed the arm over him. It wasn't like he _tried_ to sleep next to Katsuya. He just fell asleep, like Katsuya continuously did all the time. He shook Katsuya, trying to wake him. He had to get out of there.

"Mmm…" was the only sound uttered out of Katsuya's mouth.

"Get up, Bonkotsu." Seto shook him a little more violently this time. _Get up or I'll molest you._

Katsuya rubbed his eyes before opening them. "Sorry, did I fall asleep?"

"We both did." Seto got off the bed. "I think your father came in and turned off the lights."

Katsuya watched Seto's figure in the dark lazily, still not fully awake yet. "Oh. Sometimes Dad wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He must've noticed my light was on."

That means he saw Seto holding Katsuya in his arms or sleeping cuddly close!

"I'm leaving now." He was about to leave the room but Katsuya grabbed onto his arm.

He yawned before speaking. "Just stay. By the time you get back you'll only sleep a little before having to wake up again."

"Then I'll go sleep on the couch." It probably felt better to sleep on than Katsuya's sack of springs.

"Dad's not going to like it if I let a guest sleep on the couch." He would go and sleep on the couch himself if he weren't so tired to the point that he was reluctant to move. "It's not going to kill ya to sleep next to me. You already did it for three hours; you might as well for two more." He squished himself against the wall on one side of the bed and placed Takoyaki on the pillow in the middle. It was a good thing his pillow was huge. "There. I won't touch you or look at you and Takoyaki will be our divider." He turned his back to Seto.

It wasn't the first time Katsuya slept next to another boy, so he didn't care that much right now since he was dead tired. The idea of sleeping next to Kaiba Seto was kind of creepy though. He had slept over at Yugi's a few times and they had to share a bed. He really didn't mind sleeping next to Yugi.

Seto climbed under the covers and positioned his back to Katsuya. He wouldn't be able to sleep like this; it was so uncomfortable. He probably only fell asleep earlier because he it felt really soothing to be holding Katsuya in his arms.

After about ten minutes, Seto was sure Katsuya was asleep, so he turned around to face him, only to meet Takoyaki. He glared at the bear before chucking it to the foot of the bed. Now if only Katsuya would roll over and face him. He moved a bit closer to his crush before finally closing his eyes.

* * *

Katsuya was wrapped up in his warm sheets, ignoring the alarm that was ringing insanely. He was still tired! He didn't want to get up yet. He pressed the snooze button and remained cuddled up in his bed. When the alarm went off again, he finally forced himself to sit up on his bed. Something was missing… but he couldn't place his finger on it. He rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up.

Oh yeah! Where was Seto? He was alone in his room. It wasn't a dream, right? Kind of creepy to dream about sharing a bed with Kaiba Seto of all people… But he doesn't recall letting Seto out of his home. He scratched the back of his head and yawned.

Just as Katsuya had yawned, the door to his bedroom opened. It was Seto who stood there silently.

"Mornin'." He yawned again. "Where'd you go?"

"Bathroom." He had his jacket on, all prepared to leave. "Open the door. I need to go."

Katsuya nodded and finally got up from his bed. He stretched before walking out of his room with Seto to the door.

"Your bed is a piece of shit."

"Yeah, yeah. Just shut up and go." He unlocked the door just when the doorbell's chime rang through the apartment.

Hiroto stood there with his finger still on the doorbell, surprised that the door opened so quickly.

"_Eh_?" What was Hiroto doing here? And so early too!

As if he had walked into something forbidden, Hiroto's eyes widened at the sight of Seto leaving the apartment. The two guests only nodded at each other before Seto left completely.

"Who was that?"

"Matsuo."

"Whoa! Isn't that the name of the creepy guy you mentioned about over the phone? Oh my god! Don't tell me y-you you!" Honda was pointing at Katsuya, shakily. "His sexy charm won you over didn't it? His advances persuaded you and now you two are-oh my god he stayed over and this is the morning after a long night of passionate-wow, Jounouchi. I didn't know you swung that way."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Katsuya grabbed Hiroto from behind and placed him into a headlock. "Stop watching those dramas! They're going to your head!"

Hiroto could only struggle and protest. "Le-Leggo! Air!"

The thought of sleeping with Seto of all people was disturbing to the core. Gah! Goosebumps! "It was nothing like you imagined!"

"Wh-what was it then?" Hiroto flailed.

"Just…He was just returning something. Then it got late so I asked him to just stay over. But we didn't do anything of that sort, _got it_?" Well it wasn't exactly a lie. Part of Seto's reason to be over was to set up a day so he could return the favour of those meals that Katsuya made for him.

Hiroto nodded dumbly, hoping Katsuya would let him go if he just agreed. And Katsuya finally released his hold.

"Why are you here anyways?" He closed the door behind them, hoping all that noise didn't wake his father up.

"To get you prepared, man!" He slung an arm across Katsuya's shoulder. "Shizuka's coming later today after all. I wanted to make sure you watched all of those episodes. If you didn't I can fill ya in," he whispered.

Hiroto knew. He knew that everyone except Katsuya's father was allowed to see Shizuka so he was keeping his voice low. His father always worked late on Wednesdays, so it was the best time for Shizuka to make trips.

Katsuya's mother agreed to move closer but forbade Shizuka from seeing her father. It was really unfair but if they didn't follow her selfish condition, Katsuya wouldn't be able to spend as much time as he was now with his sister. His father really loved Shizuka too… Everyone did. His parents both loved Shizuka more. She was always the cute and good one and Katsuya was always the bratty one who always got into trouble. Perhaps to his mother, Katsuya's father would always be the drunk, useless man who brought nothing but shame and trouble to the family and Katsuya was viewed as the son of that despicable man.

"You tell me that _now_? After I suffered 56 episodes? I just have one more left to watch today before she comes!" But he would've watched it even if Hiroto offered to give him summaries and key points. He couldn't lie to his sister like that.

"It was a good show wasn't it? Good ending too. It teaches us men how to really woo girls."

"Be super rich, hot, persistent and strangely romantic?"

"I don't mean the first two of course."

If Katsuya _had_ to choose a favourite character in the show he'd probably choose the main male character, but only out of sympathy. He didn't understand why he always had to prove he loved her when she was the one who always misunderstood him and runs away crying.

"Anyways there's something else I have to tell you." He let go of Katsuya and his eyes became serious.

"What?"

"I quit my job."

"You serious? Why?"

"Because I missed you, man! I wanna hang out with my best bud more!" He had his arm over Katsuya's shoulder again.

"Seriously this time."

"The boss was a serious S.O.B." Hiroto frowned. "He was always harassing the female workers and I just got fed up. He had a short temper and was disrespectful. After sticking up for one of the co-workers, I handed my letter of resignation to him and left."

Katsuya smiled. "That bastard lost his best worker."

"Damn right." He grinned. "But that's okay. I've collected enough money to last me for a while. So now, I can actually spend more time with you and the others."

_And force me to watch more dramas…_ He sighed inwardly.

"So what's up with you and Kaiba? Yugi said you've been mentioning him a lot lately."

"Nothing. He's imagining things."

"Mentioning him just once out of the blue is one too many times for you, you know?"

That was true.

"I was just trying to catch up. It doesn't mean anything weird."

Hiroto laughed and pulled Katsuya into a quick hug, something that almost never happens. He only did it when he was really worried about Katsuya.

"You have work so I'm going to go now. I'll see you later though, with her. I think she's bringing over someone special too."

"Someone special?" It better not be a _boyfriend_. He growled in his thoughts.

"Don't worry about it." Hiroto laughed again.

Yeah… Shizuka was allowed to make her own decisions.

* * *

"Big Brother!" Shizuka practically jumped on Katsuya when the door was opened. "I missed you!"

"Shizuka." He smiled brightly.

"There's someone I would like you to meet."

Katsuya was prepared for this; he was going to meet—

A little boy who appeared to be blushing popped up behind Shizuka.

—her _boyfriend_?

"Shi-Shizuka! Wha?" A _kid_? That's too much! Wait a minute. "Honda!" He was ready to grab Hiroto by the collar.

"Hey man. It was you who jumped into conclusions not me." He hid behind Shizuka too, laughing.

The little boy stared up at Katsuya, astonishment apparent on his face.

"How old are you?" Katsuya smiled at him.

"I'm 11," he responded quite confidently. "Please give Shizuka to me." He grabbed onto Katsuya's hand, determination shining in his eyes.

_Wh-whaaaat?_

"Why you little brat!" Hiroto grabbed the kid and they started wrestling.

"Shizuka likes me more, you ugly twig!" the kid exclaimed during the struggle.

"Yeah right you stupid little brat."

Katsuya looked to Shizuka, confused.

Shizuka only giggled. "Those two are always joking around."

_Actually I think they're being quite serious._ Katsuya turned to stare at the two boys and sighed. The 11 year old was stabbing Hiroto's nose with his fist and kicking at him while Hiroto held the kid up by his collar and was trying to stop the attacks.

Great, now there was a little kid after Shizuka's affections, the list just kept growing.

"Who is he anyways, Shizuka?" He finally closed the door, ignoring the wrestling duo in his way.

"He's one of my neighbour's kids. He really wanted to meet you so I brought him here with me. I hope you don't mind, Big Brother."

"Shizuka was always telling me how great you were. She won't date anyone who isn't as great as her brother, so I came to see." They stopped wrestling.

Katsuya blushed, feeling rather flattered. The kid was surprisingly straightforward. "What's your name?"

"Kuroki Hikaru." He stood up straight.

"Ahh. Do you like Duel Monsters, Hikaru?"

"No! I hate Duel Monsters!" Hikaru stepped back and away from Katsuya.

Worry washed over Shizuka's face. "Hikaru…"

"Shizuka, you never said anything about your brother liking that stupid game! He's the worst! I hate duelists and I hate Duel Monsters!" He was yelling really loudly. "I hate you, Jounouchi Katsuya!" And he fled from Katsuya's home.

"Hikaru!" Shizuka was about to go after him but Hiroto grabbed onto her arm to stop her.

"I'll go after him and take him home. You should stay with Jounouchi."

"Thank you…" Shizuka was starting to become teary.

Hiroto smiled and dashed off.

"What the heck just happened?"

"It's my fault. I should have told you beforehand that Hikaru really hates Duel Monsters. I have no idea why. He wouldn't tell me." She was staring at the ground.

Katsuya wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. "It's not your fault." He was angry at that little brat now. How dare he make Shizuka upset.

"I never told him you were a duelist because the first time I asked him if he liked Duel Monsters, he freaked out on me too. I think it has something to do with his father… His father really hates Duel Monsters too."

"Hey… It's okay, Shizuka. How about some good news? I finished 'Her Grace'." He gave her his gentle smile.

"Did you like it?" She looked up at her brother.

"Yeah. My little sister always had great taste."

Shizuka giggled. "I have something else for you to watch then." She grabbed a stack of DVDs from her bag and handed them to Katsuya. "Tanaka Momoko is in this one too, but not as the main character this time. She's beautiful isn't she?"

He nodded and read the DVD title. "'Memories'?"

"It's about a rich super cute guy who rolled off a steep hill and forgot his memories. He was found by a girl that lived in a small town and she nursed him back to health. He wants to remember his past and well I don't want to spoil you! Tanaka Momoko plays as his ex in this one."

Oh god. These dramas never end.

* * *

At the moment, they were hiding behind YamamotoCorp at a spot that Seto claimed to be a blind spot. Seto was in another disguise and his voice changed again. Katsuya was surprised when he saw him. Seto looked like a rock artist! He forced Katsuya to wear a stylish black outfit, eyeliner and weird accessories too. He said their appearance will come in handy if something happened.

They were waiting for it to be a little past midnight before getting near the building where the cameras are.

Seto had his laptop with him of course; he was getting ready to hack into the security system of YamamotoCorp. They were going to sneak in from the backdoor and work their way through the building. It was safer this way. The back had a small parkade for the workers and was located near the recycling and garbage containers. They were hiding behind a wall in the parkade.

The lights were dim and the only thing that could be heard was Seto's clicking. Then, echoing footsteps were heard, and both boys froze.

"Thank you for staying longer." Seto identified the voice to belong to Yamamoto Kenji, the owner of YamamotoCorp. He quickly hid his laptop in his bag.

"No problem! I'm glad I could help."

"So just lock up the place now."

"Yes sir!"

Why were there still people here?

The footsteps eventually faded and soon they heard a car drive out of the parkade.

They peeked from behind the wall and cursed quietly as the security guard was locking up the last door to the building from the parkade. Why was he working so late?

Katsuya stepped back and bumped right into Seto. He felt his breath against him and he jumped, hitting Seto on his chin and then falling down onto the ground with him as he lost his balance suddenly. He heard Seto growl quietly, obviously very pissed off at Katsuya's screw up.

"Who's there?" the security guard cried out in the empty parkade.

The sounds of footsteps grew louder and louder. He was coming closer to them.

_Oh shit._

* * *

**Notes:** Thanks again to everyone who left a review! It was really hard to write this chapter. I have problems with writing Kaiba. But when I re-read those lovely comments people left, I push myself to write it anyways. Damn you Kaiba! Damn you for being so hard to write! XD

Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter wasn't _too _bad.

* * *

(1) Haha! Jounouchi's had a bunch of "cute" cards. XD He had things like Baby Dragon, Time Wizard, all those Landstar cards (Swordsman, Brigadier, Grappler, Knight), Landstar Forces, Little Winguard, Graceful Dice, Skull Dice, Star Blaster, Grave robber (I think that one counts as one XD), Scapegoat, Sasuke Samurai…

Kaiba on the other hand was crazy for dragons and had a few other types like machine cards but like his X-Head cannon, Y-**Dragon** Head and Z-Metal Tank fuses into XYZ-**Dragon** Cannon. -cough- Dragons… XD;…

(2) Hehehehe…hint hint. -shot- I was so tempted to write something like "Yuji" LOL…man… wouldn't that make Kaiba _sooo_ creative? 8D

(3) Takoyaki is a Japanese dumpling made of batter with a piece of octopus in the middle. It can be topped with tempura scraps, fish shavings, okonomiyaki sauce (like Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), green onion, mayonnaise and some other stuff. They're round and they're usually considered as a snack food. Wrote this just in case. (I love them and they're so goddamn filling.)


	7. The One Who Bridges Our Souls

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I was going to write some more explanation story stuff like the last chapter but I decided to just hold it off for now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to release this.

**The One Who Bridges Our Souls**

_Aquiminthe,_

_How was the play? Souichirou does his role well in 'Imperishable Kingdom' won't you agree? It's a fact that he's the best for that role. Please come back soon. Feliana misses you. Don't forget that._

_If both west and east are unappealing, try north or south._

_Love,_

_Feliana_

* * *

"Don't mutter a word and play along or else you won't like the consequences," he spoke quietly and shot his deadliest glare at Katsuya who was pushed underneath him.

It would be a lie if Katsuya said he wasn't scared. He screwed up and Seto was climbing on top of him and resting between his legs for...he didn't even know why.

He wanted to ask, to protest and push Seto off him but Seto's warning prevented him from doing so. What was Seto doing? Shouldn't they be running away, hiding or something? The security guard was coming closer and—_what the_?

Seto pushed Katsuya's jacket back and slipped his left hand under Katsuya's shirt, pushing it up slightly as his hand moved to land on Katsuya's chest. _What the hell was Seto DOING? _He screamed inside his mind.

He tried to move away and gave Seto a light push to indicate that he didn't like what he was doing but Seto gave him that deadly look again which rendered Katsuya still.

Seto quickly undid Katsuya's belt with his free hand, unzipped the fly halfway and then swiftly slid his hand over Katsuya's bottom and up before stopping at the underside of Katsuya's left thigh. He left that hand there, grabbing onto Katusya who felt _extremely_ violated and _angry_.

"What are you two _doing_?" The security's eyes widened at the two figures on the ground. There wasn't enough light at that section of the parkade where the two boys were hiding so the security guard couldn't see them very clearly.

Seto brushed his fingers over Katsuya's nipple lightly, making Katsuya jump slightly while emitting a sharp gasp.

He wanted to push Seto off and give him a good punch in the face. He would've, he really would've, but again, Seto gave him that look. This time however, there was a 'just trust me' vibe in his eyes along with it. He didn't understand what Seto was doing and knew he had no choice but to go along with it. Seto was so close and moving kind of funny over him, kind of like he was pretending to be kissing him… Oh.

The security flustered at the sight. "Hey! Did you hear me?" He tried again.

They didn't reply. Instead, Seto moved over to Katsuya's neck and pretended to ravish him there when Katsuya turned his head to the side. When Katsuya finally decided to play along, he wrapped his arms around Seto's neck and added some nice 'sound effects' to their little charade.

The security guard walked closer to them and placed a hand on Seto's shoulder, trying to force him to stop but was easily shoved off.

A part of Seto didn't want to do this since he wasn't feeling well today, but the other part told him that he must and while he had to, he should take advantage of the situation. He felt like a closet pervert.

Seto stripped off his own jacket and started undoing his own belt, which freaked the security guard out. He didn't want to see! He finally gave up trying to get a response from the two boys and mumbled something like 'stupid teenagers' before walking off. If screwing outside at night in an empty parkade was their thing, he wasn't going to care, as long as they weren't there to cause trouble. It wasn't like they were found inside the office doing that. He was tired and he didn't want to deal with two gay delinquents with hormonal problems. And he _really_ didn't want to witness two guys making love.

He finally left, quite hastily, but the boys continued their little act for just a while longer. Just in case.

It had to be hard to pretend to make out with someone when you're on top, Katsuya thought. You had to hover over them just enough so it looks right but not too much that you actually end up kissing them.

The night was chilly but the two boys felt the opposite, their bodies were touching and they could feel each other's heartbeat. For a moment it didn't feel like they were on the cold dirty cement floor.

Katsuya shoved Seto off him and got up, fixing his clothes. He was angry even though it was just a plan to scare off the security. Even though it was a successful plan and Seto was only pretending. How dare Seto touch him like that.

Seto growled, not happy he was shoved. "Let's go." He was going to have to alter the video from the cameras that picked up that little scene with the security guard. The camera should've only caught sight of the security guard and not them.

Katsuya shot his own deadly glare at Seto. "Why'd you go and do _that_?"

"Wasn't it obvious? I thought you picked it up during the middle of it." He picked up his bag containing his laptop from the ground and brushed it as if it was coated with dust. Perhaps he did venture a little far with the acting. He became excited too when Katsuya decided to add those delicious-sounding moans into their scheme. Luckily he managed to control himself and hold everything in.

"You didn't have to crop a feel!" He formed fists at his side. If he were a cat his fur would probably be bristling right now.

"Deal with it. It was the best thing we could've done at the time." He frowned and brought his laptop out to start hacking into the computer system. "Unless you wanted him to see us clearly and remember us." Their clothing choice was probably the only thing that the security guard would remember, which wouldn't matter since it was a disguise. Seto tried to cover Katsuya's face from him as well as he could with the fake make-out. Even when he was pretending to ravish Katsuya's neck, he moved to the side where he could still block Katsuya's face from view.

Seto was right. Katsuya loosened his fists and sighed. It was his blunder and Seto fixed it. He shouldn't get angry at him for that. Although he really wished there had been another way. Maybe if Seto wasn't so enthusiastic about his acting, he wouldn't have molested his ass like he did… and his nipple.

Seto saw the sign of defeat on Katsuya's face and smirked. "You enjoyed it anyways. I felt how hot you were getting from that little activity." He was strangely in a good mood despite the fact that his body was misbehaving.

"_W-What_?" Katsuya's face glowed red. "That was you!"

"Hn." He pushed his laptop screen down, finally finished his programming for the relevant parkade cameras.

Katsuya had to admit that Seto looked really charming even close up and didn't smell bad at all. But…

"I prefer women, man," Katsuya admitted plainly, nodding to himself.

"Why are you telling me that?" His mood automatically soured. Why did Katsuya bother to tell him shit that he already knew? "I don't give a fuck." He yanked Katsuya roughly and pulled him to the door that the security guard locked up last. "Get to work." All of this could've been over if Katsuya wasn't there to drag him down. Why did he even consider waiting for Katsuya? Why did he even let him into this? Fucking one-sided shit.

Katsuya frowned, displeased with Seto being rough. However he didn't protest and started working on the lock.

Katsuya was pleased about one thing. Seto made him one of those voice changing things. The only dissatisfying thing was that instead of 'SxK', there was a paw print on it. It also looked more like a bondage collar or dog collar than a choker. Seto said it was because he wanted it to match up with their current outfits, which looked like something that The-Other-Yugi would wear.

There. He got the door to open. Right away Seto started typing again. It was amazing how he managed to do that so quickly with one hand.

Just then the last light in the parkade located in some far corner went off. Katsuya ignored it as it was probably programmed to turn off at this time. Katsuya took out his flashlight and shone it at the dark room they just broke into.

"Be careful. Don't move anything in this building out of position. It will look weird in the recording if objects suddenly moved by itself after we erase our tracks."

Katsuya nodded. "Where are we heading for first?"

Seto loaded up a map of YamamotoCorp on his laptop. "First we're going to the control room which is on this floor. I can program a few cameras there and maybe we can turn on those elevators too."

"Good idea. Taking stairs all the way to the top of this building doesn't sound cool." Katsuya shone the light towards the direction that they had to go. "Hey, why don't you just hack into those cameras after we get into the control room? Wouldn't that be easier?"

"I have my reasons." He could but preferred to change only the ones in the rooms that they actually end up searching. It would be a waste of time to reprogram all of them afterwards. He could keep track of them this way and didn't want to spend so much time in the control room programming cameras.

"All right! Lead the way, Spy Master!" He shone the flashlight at every direction of the room until he found the way they needed to head towards according to Seto's laptop. "This way, right?"

Seto made a sound of approval and walked slowly towards the dimly illuminated path. There was never room for error so it was best not to rush into things.

It seemed like Katsuya was enjoying this 'game' that they were playing, he was smiling and his head was swinging in every direction to look at his surroundings. Seto smirked to himself. Katsuya probably had already forgotten about their little pretend-lovers-game. He was so simple-minded.

"Hey, Kaiba." Katsuya stopped walking. "This is the door right?" He reached for the handle and tried to turn it but the knob wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

"Wait, let me do something about the security inside first."

Before taking out one of his paperclips in preparation for his part of the mission—he brought a couple just in case—he leaned over Seto's shoulder, curious to see what Seto was so engrossed in doing.

"I have no idea what you're doing," he admitted with a soft laugh but received no response. "Hey?"

"Hn. Good for you," Seto responded absentmindedly, fingers busy on the keyboard and eyes focused on the screen.

Katsuya frowned. "Yeah well I'm not a smart ass like you. People have things they're good at and things they're not good at and you're not any different, Kaiba! I bet there are things you suck at and there are probably a lot of things I'm better than you at. What do-"

"Done." He finally stopped typing and faced Katsuya. "Get working on the lock."

"Hey! Don't interrupt me and don't order me around!"

"What?" His brows furrowed, looking somewhat confused, which was weird! Why would he be confused?

_Was he spacing out? Oh I see!_ Katsuya laughed. "You're not one of _those_ are you?"

Seto's eyes narrowed. He didn't like where this was going.

"The type of people who are such workaholics that they become completely engrossed in work and ignore everything around them. They're so used to it that they don't ever notice what's going on around them. You didn't even listen to what I was saying did you? Hell, you probably didn't even notice!"

"I _do_ have awareness of my surroundings when I work. It just so happens that your periodic incessant ravings are so meaningless that my brain selectively filters it out."

In other words, 'sometimes you should just shut up.'

He did however hear the words 'ass' and 'things you suck' but that probably wasn't what Katsuya was ranting about. Whatever it was, it didn't seem important.

Unfortunately this slight lack of attention means that he was likely coming down with something. His body was feeling slightly hot and it wasn't due to the selective words he picked up in Katsuya's rant. If Mokuba were around, he would argue that his busybody-big-brother probably got sick because of working too much and stressing over stupid things, but to Seto this meant that he was being too slack with his surroundings as of late. There weren't any threats around him even though he was doing something illegal at the moment. He just simply didn't feel threatened; no one knows about his activities after all. In addition, he was with his stupid 'crush' who was unlikely to jump him (although that would be nice). If he were truly sick, it had to be due to his involuntary temporary lowering of guard.

He wasn't exactly pleased that his mind decided to become lax just because Katsuya or Mokuba was around. It left him vulnerable and rendered him less attentive. There was no use for traits like that. But other than those special occasions, he knew he was a keen observer.

"-so suck on it!" Katsuya was already done with the lock and was waving his arms around with an angry look on his face. He probably missed Katsuya's venting again.

"Hey…" Katsuya suddenly looked worried. "Are you okay?"

His eyes _were_ a bit warm and his body wasn't behaving but now wasn't the time to be worrying about something trivial. It was probably just a mild fever. He'll just have to ignore it.

"Yeah."

"You don't look very 'here', Kaiba… Are you sure you're okay?" He placed his hand on top of Seto's shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"Yes. I'm okay!" Seto brushed off the soothing hand that he actually liked. "We have to move on."

"Okay…" He wasn't near convinced but decided to drop the subject for now and followed Seto along the hallway which was revealed behind the door.

The control room was at the end of that hall, which had more than just a mere lock on it but that wasn't a problem since Seto knew the password.

It was a short hallway bearing only a few building control and maintenance related rooms.

Seto punched in a few keys on the door to their first destination and was rewarded with a 'click'. He pulled the door open and motioned Katsuya to direct the light into the room with a small gesture with his head.

Katsuya did just that and since this was his first time in a room like this, his eyes widened in amazement like a child who just arrived at the fair.

"Wow! I feel like I'm in a giant machine robot, except there aren't any handles to move the thing."

"Stop waving the damn light around." It wasn't helping his eyes feel any better.

"What do we do now?"

Seto walked into the room and typed in some things onto the control room's computer. "I have to check some things first. There might be a few rooms that we should not go into."

"Why?"

"There might be rooms with cameras that feed directly to Yamamoto Kenji's home."

A screen of text popped up on the giant screen.

"What?" He wasn't quite getting it.

"It means there may be a few rooms that they're protective over and that the cameras are connected to their home. They can receive the images from the camera at their own home and watch it from there."

"But that's weird! This is just an office isn't it?"

"They do keep prototypes and other valuable information in their vault. That should be the only room that they have under tight surveillance. If otherwise then other rooms would be suspicious."

"But what if what you're looking for is in the vault?"

Seto didn't reply instantly; he was staring at the strings of text that flooded the screen for brief moment. "Just as predicted. Only the vault has that type of set up." Seto started typing in some other things again. "What I'm looking for does not have to be in the vault. All I need is information to bring Yamamoto Kenji into misery."

"You want to _destroy_ his company?"

Seto sneered. "I already explained my intentions before."

"But…I thought…"

"YamamotoCorp lost their chance. They're messing with me so I'm going to have to punish them for it."

Katsuya was silent.

"This eyesore..." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm looking for proof that they're the ones behind the copying of our project ideas. If they are responsible then I have to get rid of them by finding something I can destroy them with. This is the business world, Bonkotsu. Feelings don't belong here." He turned to face Katsuya. "It seems like we aren't going to take the elevators after all."

"Why not?" He wasn't sure what to say to everything else.

"The elevator goes directly down to the vault. There are cameras there so if we turned them on, that will surely screw everything up."

"Stairs it is then…" He sighed. "Why do all the high offices always have to be at the top of the building?"

Seto finished hacking into a few more cameras and stepped out of the room. "Bonkotsu."

"What?"

"I'm not destroying YamamotoCorp—although it will affect it—I'm only targeting Yamamoto Kenji or whoever that is behind this. I don't plan on making YamamotoCorp disappear, there would likely be another shareholder who would take over." He didn't face Katsuya. "And remember, I never asked for your help."

"I know." He didn't know anything about the business world and if what Yamamoto Kenji was doing was true, then he didn't exactly deserve an easy way out. He didn't know if this was the best solution for Seto's problem but he did know that Seto only planned on punishing those who are involved and not the innocent. As of now, Katsuya still wanted to help him.

There was nothing but the echoes of their footsteps and periodic key clicking heard as they headed away from the control room and onto the stairs. Katsuya wasn't sure how to break this sudden wall of ice between them. Seto was so difficult to be with sometimes.

"Would you stop waving that damn light around already?"

"I just want to see the surroundings better. You know, so I don't trip?" He grinned and stood beside Seto who stopped at the top of the first flight of stairs.

"Stop flashing it at the windows then."

"There was only one tiny window so far! I didn't flash at it either. You're just being paranoid!"

Seto didn't respond and continued towards their destination. The area was cold and the stairs were made of plain cement. It wasn't exactly the prettiest place to be. If only they were allowed to take the elevator instead.

"Hey…" Katsuya begun, it might've been a mistake. He wanted to talk about something while climbing these long flights of stairs after all.

"Hm?"

"Did you spend any time with Yugi after our graduation?" Katsuya had to ask even though Yugi would've told him.

"No. I had my company to deal with." He wasn't even in Domino half the time.

"Do you miss Yugi?" He fiddled with the strap at the end of the flashlight. Instead of trying to think of a good topic of conversation, he decided to just start with anything and hoped maybe something decent would branch off from there.

"Why are we talking about Yugi?"

Everything they said echoed no matter how softly they were spoken.

"I can't think of anything else to talk about."

"Then don't say anything."

"There isn't really anything else we have in common…"

"What?" Seto turned to Katsuya and raised a brow. Yugi was something they had in common?

"Never mind."

Seto watched Katsuya as he skipped a few steps ahead and took the lead, illuminating the way for them as he shone the flashlight forward. A smile tugged at his lips. He knew what Katsuya was trying to do. Katsuya's attempts to start normal conversations with him was strangely…'cute'. He wasn't growing soft. He wasn't.

"Siblings."

"What?"

"Something else we have in common."

Katsuya spun around and practically beamed. "You want to talk about Shizuka?"

_Not really. _"Getting all excited for no reason like a mutt." He hid his small smile. _It'd be better if we were talking about Mokuba._

"Whatever, man." He turned back around. "Shizuka's been making a lot of friends lately. It's getting hard for me to keep up. I can't remember all their names."

Seto knew how that was like. Mokuba was quite the social butterfly himself.

"Lately she brought over this weird little friend of hers and he was really… weird."

Seto could imagine the face Katsuya had on as he spoke.

"He hates Duel Monsters! I really wonder why."

_Hates_ Duel Monsters? Seto felt his eyes comically widened. Seto was in slight disbelief.

"That's impossible."

"Well I don't think it's impossible for people to not like a game… but I do find his extreme opinion on the game to be strange."

"To hate Duel Monsters is just asking to be a social outcast. It's all about Duel Monsters nowadays, especially for children." That's what makes it unlikely for a child to _hate_ Duel Monsters.

"Well he does." He hiked up another flight of stairs. He stopped keeping track on which level that they were on since it seemed like the stairs never ended. His legs were starting ache from all the exercise. "He yelled at me and then ran away."

"Hn." He realized he wasn't sure why he was having this conversation but he already decided to not care anymore. He would just listen. It wasn't as if staying up this late was something foreign to him, but implausibly he felt tired.

"Somehow we ended up talking about Duel Monsters." Katsuya laughed softly. "Well back to Shizuka." He grinned. "I think I'm going to need to buy myself a couple of power tools or something. I doubt sticks have a very strong effect on warding off guys…or slippers. Not trying to brag or anything, Shizuka's getting a little too popular with her male 'friends'."

Seto remained silent, paying close attention to the stairs, his laptop and Katsuya's words. That hopeless idiot was obviously bragging but that was just how he was.

"That stupid Honda is still after her. Can you believe it?"

He could.

"The guy just doesn't give up. He watches romance dramas for her! That dumbass had to 'suggest' to Shizuka that she should lend those DVDs to me too. I've already been forced to watch five series!" Katsuya shuddered. "Horrid."

It was beyond him why Katsuya doesn't simply tell Shizuka that he didn't want to watch romance dramas but it was really like him to suck everything up for his little sister... Or maybe Katsuya secretly liked them.

"She really likes to watch the shows with Tanaka Momoko. She's pretty cute."

Tanaka Momoko. That wasn't a name that Seto wanted to hear.

"Hey are you listening?" The light was getting slightly dimmer so Katsuya whacked the flashlight a few times. It seemed to help.

"Yes."

"What about Mokuba? Does he make you watch anything?"

"Not really." Mokuba never tried to force anything on him. "He usually watches the news."

Katsuya smiled. "Living up to his older brother's expectations, huh?"

"He doesn't have a lot of time for other programs. He usually prefers to play video games." Mokuba was definitely a better conversation topic than Shizuka.

"What g-Damn the battery died." They paused their ascent, not wanting to climb up any more stairs without proper lighting. Katsuya shook the flashlight a few times and smacked it too but it didn't come back to life. The only light left was the one from Seto's laptop, however it wasn't adequate. They haven't seen a window since the first flight of stairs. "Wait, I have a spare battery."

Seto suddenly felt a hand touch his typing hand. He quickly pulled away and moments later, the sound of something falling down the stairs was heard.

"Hey! Don't do that! I might fall!"

"What are you _doing_?"

"Turning the laptop over to me! I need some light so I can install the fucking battery you just made me drop!"

"You_ dropped_ it?"

"If you hadn't jerked like that maybe I wouldn't have!"

"For once you should've used your mouth and said something."

Katsuya pulled Seto's typing hand away and placed it on top of his arm. "Hold on to me okay? We need to get that battery. It didn't sound like it fell far. Probably just landed at the bottom of these steps."

"And why do I have to hold onto you?"

"I need you to come with me, duh! You're the only source of light right now. If I fall I'm taking you with me. It's your fault I dropped the damn battery."

"Don't you have another battery?"

"Nope. Now position your screen at the steps so we can see where we're going."

"It'd work better if you held onto _me_ while I positioned the screen."

"Shaddap." But he did as Seto suggested, grabbing onto the closest arm.

They descended cautiously as neither of them wanted to fall. Katsuya's grip on Seto was pretty strong but not enough to hurt. He felt something odd about Seto physically but he wasn't exactly sure through their movements. When they reached the bottom of the steps, the light from the laptop illuminated the battery enough that Katsuya could see it and bend over to pick it up.

"How far are we from the top anyways?" Katsuya grabbed onto Seto's arm again to shift the laptop towards him. He suddenly paused and kept his hand on Seto.

"What? Install the battery already."

"Kaiba… You're shaking and you're warm." _Was it a fever?_

"You're imagining things." Seto deadpanned and pushed Katsuya's hand off but left his screen in the same position so Katsuya got the light source that he needed.

"No, I'm not. I wasn't sure when we were going down the stairs, but I'm sure that you're obviously shaking now." He frowned.

"I'm fine. Just hurry up, we were already almost at the top." He cursed at his own body in his mind. He was feeling hot and cold at the same time. It seemed like he really did have a fever now.

Surprised at the news, Katsuya quickly removed the dead battery and popped in the new one. He buried the old one into his pocket and turned the flashlight back on. Holy crap they really were almost at the top.

"Let's go. We've lingered here far too long already."

Katsuya nodded, deciding to let the shaking thing go for now.

They quickly reached the door and Katsuya unlocked it swiftly.

"Done." Just in time to Katsuya's work, Seto finished his part of the job.

"We make such a team." He grinned and patted Seto's shoulder.

Seto pushed the door open and brought up the map on his laptop. "The meeting room is on the right and the big door on the left should be towards our target's office." To their favour, there were no camera's in the president's office.

"Hey what if all this time, there was a sound recording system in this company and we've been caught on tape?"

"There's no such thing."

"But how are you so sure? It could be a secret! Maybe they'll find out! Then we're screwed!"

"Now _that's_ being paranoid."

They entered the left door and walked into the waiting lobby outside the office. "I trust my research and what the control room told me. They don't have a system like that here." It was just an office building after all.

"I was only speaking hypothetically."

"Hn."

They entered Yamamoto Kenji's office easily. It was like all the other doors that they've broken into in this building. Seto went straight to the computer when he got in and Katsuya went straight to the file cabinet while glancing around the place like he did in every room they entered thus far.

"There's a T.V. in here!"

"When you become a CEO of a huge company, you can have a bar in here if you wanted." Of course that would be very unprofessional and you'd probably be hated by your employees.

"Lucky bastards." He turned his attention back to the file cabinet and unlocked it easily. He pulled the drawer labelled 'I - P' out and stared at the contents. The drawer was tightly packed with manila folders. "I have to go through _all_ of these?"

Seto only nodded, his attention was devoted to Yamamoto Kenji's computer screen but Katsuya knew there was nothing interesting on there—it was still booting up.

Katsuya groaned. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for. Seto had given him a list of words to find in his search. 'Duel Monsters', 'Kaiba', 'Eimei'…the list went on. He had to look for whatever else that sounded relevant too. He sighed and reached in, pulling out a huge portion of the folders and dropping them onto the ground.

"Make sure you don't mess up the order."

"I won't, I won't. They paperclip everything in order." He looked into one of the thickest folders. "This is a big waste of paperclips. What is up with offices?"

"YamamotoCorp and Hayasa likes to organize things in a specific way, that's all."

_Better get started. _He began humming some spy mission music that he deemed appropriate before picking up the first file, one of the 'I' folders.

Seto was silent like always.

"_Dun dun dundun dun dun…_" He chuckled in his mind, wondering how far in the song he could get before Seto became irritated. "_Dun nun nun! Dun nun nunnn…"_

"Stop that," he stated through gritted teeth.

Chorus.

* * *

It had already been over an hour and neither of them found anything. They had been looking through folders and files the whole time without any breaks. Katsuya seemed to be extremely concentrated in his task, probably not wanting to disappoint him. He smiled slightly as he turned away from his 'glance' at Katsuya. He was surprised that Katsuya was still awake. However he did notice that the blond had been rubbing his eyes periodically, trying to stay awake.

It was beginning to frustrate him. Everything he found so far that he could actually use was related to Yamamoto Kenji's father rather than Kenji himself. The man was like as clean as snow before hitting the ground. How can anyone be _this_ clean? There wasn't even a trace of a speck of misconduct found.

He had been attempting to find proof that Kenji had been messing around with Kaiba Corporation and was checking on how his conduct was in the business world but it all was a waste of time.

Could Yamamoto Kenji really be a good man? It was true that the one who messed with him in the past was his father but Kenji had always worked along his side as well. Kenji had only been the president of YamamotoCorp after his father's death three years ago. Was he really different from his father? However Seto of all people knew the answer to that well. Yes... It was possible to be nothing like the man who raised you.

"I never want to see another blue paperclip in my life again after this." Katsuya groaned as he stretched his arms. "Did you find anything yet?"

"No." Seto's eyes didn't move from the screen. "Nothing that I can actually use against him." Perhaps he should do a grand database search over the entire network. It might take too long. Maybe he should search the word 'Eimei' instead, although he does not believe it's possible for Eimei to be the culprit.

"Because I think I found something." Katsuya grinned and placed a sheet of paper on the table.

Seto quickly grabbed it and his eyes flew across the page. "This is a payment confirmation. Why would that be in the file cabinet?"

Katsuya shrugged. "Look at the bottom though."

"A payment to Eimei?"

"Does it help?" He was hoping it did because he didn't really want to go through any more folders and papers. He also didn't want this mission to take any longer than it already did since Seto seemed like he seriously needed rest.

"We'll see." The receipt didn't say what it was for, at least not in a form that an outsider could understand. It was coded, probably standing for whatever the payment was made for.

"It's dated only a few months ago too." Katsuya pointed at the date on the paper.

"I can see that." He wasn't exactly willing to admit that Katsuya was useful yet.

Seto turned to the computer again and typed the code for a grand database search. To his surprise, the results appeared quickly in masses. He quickly launched the first file and it was a project file for the 'This-Game GX' console. Every file he launched was related to the stupid console. Which meant…

"This receipt was related to the new console."

"Really?" Katsuya said excitedly. He dropped the folder that he was peering through and hopped over to Seto's side. "So what does that mean?"

"Eimei's related…"

"Search up Eimei," Katsuya suggested. "Maybe you'll find something."

"I was getting to that." He typed in the word to search the grand database again. He was expecting to have to wait a long time before finding anything but the system found something quickly. Launching the file, Seto fell back into his chair.

"I need to see Mokuba's note."

"You haven't found that note yet?" There was worry in his tone.

Seto shook his head. "This file is a copy of a contract between Eimei and YamamotoCorp over the new console idea."

Katsuya watched Seto in silence.

"Shit."

* * *

He watched Seto silently as they walked together along the empty street, contemplating whether he should bring up the 'being ill thing' again. He was worried for his friend and he also knew the arrogant rich ass had a warped sense of pride. He caught Seto glance at him from the corner of his eye and quickly looked away.

"Why are you pouting?" Seto's eyes left him and returned to the road ahead again.

He pursed his lips. Was he pouting? He didn't think he was…Seto's just weird, yeah that had to be it. "Wait."

They both stopped and Seto turned around to look at him, waiting for Katsuya to do or say something.

"I'm about to do something you don't like." He gave Seto a serious look but Seto seemed unfazed. "I'm going to _touch you_." To that comment, Seto's eyes slightly widened. "If you push me away again, I swear I'm not going to help you contact your precious you-know-who."

"Heh." Seto looked away but did not move from his spot so Katsuya took that as permission.

Katsuya walked up to Seto so that he was at half an arm's length from him and reached up to touch Seto's forehead with the back of his hand. He did the same thing to his own forehead with his other hand. The contact startled Seto and his arm jerked a few inches from its initial position as a reflex. He would've shoved the intruding flesh against his forehead away, but he stopped himself from it, not wishing to upset Katsuya again.

Katsuya noticed this of course—Seto restraining himself. He chuckled slightly and smiled. "Wow. You're burning up, man. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." He turned to face Katsuya, not wanting to appear weak by avoiding eye contact when talking to someone. It was a mistake as he quickly realized that he would long for this sort of stupid affection again. Staring at the man who he had feelings for so closely while said man was smiling so sweetly in return was definitely a trap.

"It's a bit early for flu season isn't it?" He laughed softly and removed his hand off Seto's forehead.

"It's only a mild fever." He replied a pinch too softly for his liking. "My body's probably just fighting off something. It's nothing that deserves bringing any attention to."

"Do you want my jacket? It's colder now than it was when we first left."

Seto frowned. "I'm not a girl."

"Could've fooled me." He removed his jacket. "Hey, you gave me this thing anyways and I think you need it more than I do." He swung it around Seto's shoulders. "Just suck it up and accept it, no one's here to judge you right now."

Seto narrowed his eyes at the extra jacket around him. He felt slightly uncomfortable.

"And it doesn't make you a girl," Katsuya reassured.

"I told you I was fine. I don't need it." He shrugged it off and returned it around Katsuya's shoulders. "You'll be sick in bed all week without the jacket." He smirked. "Sick puppies aren't-" _cute._ He mentally shook himself. "-useful to their masters."

"I'm not going to be sick from a little cold." _But whatever._ "Let's get going, I'm tired like hell."

* * *

He was lying on his living room carpet, staring up at the ceiling. He had been doing this since Katsuya left his apartment. He was still in his costume and he had Katsuya's jacket on top of him. He felt slightly dizzy but didn't want to do anything about it. Rolling over to his side, he closed his eyes, his mind running through the events earlier with Katsuya. They had returned to his place first so Katsuya could revert back to his regular clothes before heading to his own home.

"_Remember! Get lots of rest and drink lots of fluids! Fluids are important when you have a fever." He nodded to himself._

"Stop," he muttered, almost panting. His whole body was sweating now from the heat that his fever gave him.

He wished Katsuya would hate him like he had before. It would've made him feel more at ease. Katsuya had an advantage and it made him angry. The amount of people who pretended to be nice to him was endless. There were always attempts to get close to him but he had never allowed them to work. He didn't plan on starting.

He rolled back onto his back and covered his eyes with the back of his forearm.

"_Big Brother you always make me worry!" His fists were against his waist like a scolding mother. "You work too hard."_

"_I'm not sick, Mokuba."_

_"Yes you are! You're always out of it when you're sick!"_

"Mokuba…"

_Katsuya slipped into his shoes and grinned. "If you need me just give me a call okay?"_

"Don't be so nice to me…" It was mumbled hopelessly and hinted with anger. He felt uncomfortable with his position again and rolled to his side once again.

"What are you doing to me?" His eyes opened slowly, hoping it would kill off the memories of Katsuya.

He stared at the gap under his couch. There wasn't anything under it except a piece of paper. Luckily it wasn't far into the couch so he reached in with his fingers to get it. He almost shot up from the floor when he found out what it was. Mokuba's note for him! Katsuya did give it to him! He didn't know how the note got under there but it was exactly what he needed to see.

But he didn't like what he read.

* * *

**Notes:** I wrote a three-part prequel to this fic called _Messenger of Peace_ so please check it out if you're interested in what happened a year ago during Jounouchi's graduation. So far the first chapter is up and hopefully the last two chapters will be up soon.

Another thing, I posted up a group picture for this fanfic in my profile. Hehe. You'll get to see what Matsuo looks like. XD

I think Seto took revenge on me for making him sick in this chapter. -Is now very sick and is feeling miserable- Curse you Seto! -sigh-

Anyways! Thanks again for reading!


	8. The One Who Longs In Silence

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I seriously can't write this fanfic without thinking about _Katekyou Hitman Reborn!_ now. Stupid "YamamotoCorp" XD… I love Yamamoto from that series so it's hard keeping my mind on _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ I keep connecting him with Yamamoto Kenji even though they're not alike at all!

**The One Who Longs In Silence**

"Yeah, he is, Squirt." The phone was held between Katsuya's ear and shoulder as he rinsed the dishes in the sink.

Mokuba sighed over the phone. "Big Brother's always doing things that worry me."

Katsuya had called Mokuba and gave him a very vague update about the mission and Seto's current situation. He was planning on visiting Mokuba a little later to get a new note from him and to discuss various things. It was a Friday so he had time to spare until 5:00pm where he had work at Amaranthine.

"Honestly, I bet Big Brother was completely out of it. He can get really grumpy and unreasonable when he's sick too."

Katsuya let out a soft laugh over the phone. _Wasn't he always?_ He couldn't bring himself to say it to Mokuba.

"Once he almost fell down the stairs. If Isono wasn't there at the time to catch him, who knows what would've happened. He snapped at Isono for touching him afterwards too." He sighed again. "Although it was obvious that he was just embarrassed for being held like some princess."

Katsuya laughed again. It really sounded like an unreasonable-Seto thing to do. "Hey, I'm going to finish up these dishes and head out soon after, 'kay?"

"Sure! I'll leave you to that then! See you later, Jounouchi!"

"Bye." He couldn't help but chuckle again.

* * *

Mokuba was already waiting for him at the gate when Katsuya arrived at the Kaiba mansion. He was smiling and waving.

"Hey, Jounouchi! You're here!"

_How long has he been waiting?_ Katsuya shrugged it off and returned the smile. "What's up?"

"Aside from the updates you're going to give me, do you mind spending some time with me today?"

"Sure, I have time until mid four-ish."

Normally on a Friday when Katsuya was actually free, he would spend it with Jin. Sometimes he would go over to his place and sometimes they would go out together to kill time before heading off to work together. He had to skip out on Jin again today just for Mokuba. Although he didn't mind, this mission thing was really consuming his free time.

"Great! Come on, let's get upstairs and we can catch up in Big Brother's room again."

The mansion looked the same as it was the last time he was here. It seemed like the same servants greeted him as he made his way to Seto's room with Mokuba and everything was spotless and orderly like it was last week. Seto must be a picky prick to his servants or his servants were all perfectionists.

"Okay." Mokuba took out a piece of paper when they entered Seto's room and handed it to Katsuya. "I wrote a new one. Make sure he gets it this time."

Katsuya nodded.

Mokuba headed over to Seto's bed and sat down on it. "Okay, do you want to start or do you want me to start?"

"I can start." Katsuya decided.

Mokuba only nodded.

"Right now we think Eimei might be related…" Katsuya's expression became serious. "It makes the hacking you mentioned before even more suspicious."

"What makes you guys think that?"

Katsuya took a seat in Seto's arm chair, feeling somewhat like a top businessman himself, and laced his fingers together as his elbows rested on the surface of the desk. He was obviously imitating the posture of Seto and other CEOs he has seen on television. He couldn't hold back a grin even though he was trying to look serious like Seto would.

Mokuba was aware of what Katsuya was doing and chuckled. He always loved how playful Katsuya was.

"We found a contract between Eimei and YamamotoCorp related to the new console."

Mokuba listened intently.

"That's about it. There isn't a lot I know. What do you think this means?"

"I found out some new information," Mokuba quickly responded. "I looked through Eimei's projects and none of them seem like copies of the ones from Kaiba Corporation. So if you found a contract…" He suddenly frowned.

"What? What does it mean?"

"Perhaps Eimei is selling Kaiba Corporation's projects to other companies."

"Maybe they're in on it together."

"Possible… However there is a rumour right now that Kowri's been making business deals with Eimei over some project ideas as well. We haven't heard of the details of those projects but we're looking into it."

"You know if you have proof that they hacked into the Kaiba Corporation why don't you guys just report them or something?"

Mokuba laughed softly. "That isn't exactly how the Kaibas do things. Our proof isn't exactly 'good enough' per se since there are such things as faking this sort of 'evidence'. The most we can do is raise suspicion and taint their name. That wouldn't be the ultimate victory for Big Brother. He'd want more."

There was a hesitant smile on Katsuya's face. He couldn't help but find this kind of scary. _Note to self: never mess with a Kaiba._

"I know what you're thinking but I agree with Big Brother on this one."

"Don't you agree with everything he does and say?"

"Of course not." Mokuba had the back of his fists against either side of his waist. "I would never do something he didn't like though."

There wasn't a lot that Mokuba could do that Seto wouldn't like. He knew how much Seto loved Mokuba. It made him think about Shizuka so he couldn't help but smile.

"Speaking of your brother, didn't you say something about soup?"

Mokuba laughed and hopped off Seto's bed. "Come with me to the kitchen, I'll show you."

Katsuya was definitely interested in seeing the kitchen. He had a feeling it would be as large as Seto's bedroom. And when they arrived, he realized how right he was.

"Mmm…It smells good." Katsuya took a whiff from the still cooking soup when he lifted the lid up.

"Do you mind dropping this off at his place before you go to work? It should be almost done."

"Sure thing, kiddo. Kaiba's sure lucky to have a brother like you." He grinned and ruffled Mokuba's hair while Mokuba protested about being treated like a kid. His reaction only made Katsuya laugh.

"Big Brother always gets better after having some of my soup."

"_You_ made this?" Katsuya was sure it was a servant who was responsible for the task.

Mokuba nodded. "Big Brother's a big baby when he's sick. He's miserable and snaps at everyone around him more. He tries very hard to hide the fact that he feels sick so he usually just tells everyone to go away."

Katsuya wasn't sure if a 'big baby' was the correct term for Seto. "He actually seemed kind of nicer. A little…"

"Really?" Mokuba grinned and leaned forward.

"W-what? Why are you smiling like that?"

"Nothing." Mokuba leaned back. "Isn't that good though? He's never called nice by anyone other than me. If you found him nice then he must really like you."

_Kaiba likes me?_

Mokuba could tell that Katsuya was feeling somewhat proud at the revelation by the way his eyes lit up.

"What do you think of Big Brother, Jounouchi?"

"Huh?" The unexpected question startled him a bit. "Um…well…" He scratched his cheek gently. "He's a friend."

"I mean about him as a person."

"Oh. Don't take offense but, he's kind of a jerk." Katsuya laughed. Mokuba didn't seem surprised or offended. "But I know that deep down, bound by chains and hidden somewhere in a dark abyss but vacuumed sealed, there are some nice qualities in him."

Mokuba lifted the lid of the boiling soup and filled the thermos he already had prepared on the counter adjacent to the soup on the stove top.

"Here." He sealed the lid tightly before handing it to Katsuya.

"Do you want to head out for a bit with me, Mokuba?"

"Hmm?" Mokuba cocked his head to the side slightly. "Where to?"

"The park to kill off some time. Maybe we can duel."

"Sure!"

* * *

"Jounouchi!" A few kids ran over to Katsuya and jumped onto him, all giggling at the same time.

"Shinji, Haruka, Tetsuya! Why are you here so early today? Don't you have school?" Katsuya gave Haruka a hug since she spread her arms for one.

Mokuba watched and smiled. He never knew Katsuya liked kids.

"We watched a movie today and since we finished early, our teachers brought us all to the park." Shinji explained enthusiastically.

"Uwaah! It's Jounouchi!" A few more kids started to ensemble around Katsuya and Mokuba, recognizing them as celebrities in the Duel Monsters world.

Before Katsuya could respond, his attention was taken away.

"You!" It was Hikaru, the kid with the crush on Shizuka!

Hikaru gave Katsuya a glare before spinning around and dashing off.

"Hikaru! Hikaru!" The teacher began to chase him. "Where are you going, Hikaru?"

Nonplussed, Katsuya only stood and stared as Hikaru ran away from the park with one of the teachers trailing him. It wasn't until they were both out of sight before he broke out of his stupor. It seems everyone was as confused as he was.

"That Hikaru is a weirdo." Tetsuya commented. The other kids seemed to agree, nodding.

_Don't tell me he ran away because he saw me…_ The corner of Katsuya's lips twitched. _This kind of rejection is a little too much. Even women wouldn't…_ He sighed. _He must really hate me._

Mokuba tapped Katsuya on the shoulder. "You know him?"

"Somewhat…"

"Jounouchi! Teach us more combos!" The kids started chanting in unison, eliciting a laugh from Katsuya.

"Sure! But a little later. I have a friend with me right now."

"You teach kids Duel Monsters?" Mokuba was slightly surprised.

"Yeah. I come to this park once in a while. These three are always playing together here after school."

The kids all stared at Mokuba with wonder, uncertain if they should approach such a famous person.

"I didn't know you knew Jounouchi, Shinji." One of the little kids in the crowd commented.

Shinji tilted his head up a bit and his smile turned slightly smug. "Well, you guys need to come to this park more."

"Hey, can you guys tell me about Hikaru?" Katsuya gave them a smile.

"Why? Hikaru's a weirdo." Shinji pouted.

"What's wrong?"

"You see, Jounouchi… Hikaru _really_ hates Duel Monsters. He hates duelists too. Nobody gets along with him in school except a few girls."

"Do you know why he hates Duel Monsters?"

The kids shook their heads.

"Hikaru's father seems to be against it too." Haruka spoke up.

"Who cares about Hikaru!" Shinji held onto Katsuya's arm, pulling him gently towards a park bench so they could all sit down and chat. "Let me tell you about that movie we saw today, Jounouchi!" The other kids Katsuya didn't know returned to their previous activities, they didn't seem interested in a recap of the movie they saw.

"It was wonderful." Haruka was sparkling.

"Mind if I listen too?" Mokuba smiled.

The kids beamed and nodded. To them, Kaiba Mokuba was a celebrity. He frequently appeared on television since the past year in place of Seto when he wasn't around. They don't watch the news but they do pay attention to Duel Monsters related things.

"We were watching Perpetuality today." Haruka sighed contently. "Romantic."

"Girls are stupid. It's the sword fighting that's cool." Tetsuya had his hands to the side.

"Hmmm…" Katsuya tried to recall the story of 'Perpetuality'. "Mermaids?" _Wasn't that the story the Kaiba brothers seem to have a thing for?_

"So you've seen it too, Jounouchi?" Haruka seemed excited since she was always into romance.

"We're going to talk about the fighting!" Tetsuya frowned. "Jounouchi wouldn't be interested in the love story."

"Stupid Tetsu!" Haruka kicked dirt at his shoes. "You don't know that!"

"Haru's the one who's stupid!"

"Now, now…" Katsuya chuckled. "I'll listen to both. They're both important in the story aren't they?"

Haruka laced her fingers together and began. "Queen Aquiminthe suffered a lot in the story but in the end she was able to find happiness and live happily ever after. Aquiminthe was a white mermaid who was born to be the Queen of the Sea! She fell in love with a human and had to choose between the sea and the human. Of course their true love penetrates through the period of pain and they were able to end up together. In the end, Feliana became the queen of the sea instead. Isn't that romantic?"

"Haru was crying," Shinji teased.

"Was not." She tossed him a glare.

Katsuya was confused. He swore he remembered differently. He turned to Mokuba who was silent the entire time. "Something wrong, Mokuba?"

"Ah… It's nothing." He smiled at Haruka. "Ne, was this a new adaptation to the story?"

"What do you mean?"

"Were you guys watching the new animated version?"

"I think so."

"I see." Mokuba gave her another smile. "They changed the ending to a happy one."

"What? What? The ending isn't supposed to be like that?" Tetsuya perked up. "Aquiminthe turned evil and destroyed the planet didn't she?" He grinned, ignoring the 'Tetsu-is-so-stupid-looks' he was getting from Haruka.

Mokuba laughed softly. "The real ending would just make you kids sad. I like the version you described a lot more."

Katsuya agreed although he barely remembered the story.

"We want to know what happened!" Shinji said.

"Are you sure?" Mokuba seemed hesitant.

"Do it, Mokuba." Katsuya placed a hand on his shoulder. "I want to refresh my memory too."

"Well… First of all, it's impossible for Feliana to become queen. Only the merman or mermaid who was born with the majestic pearl can become the ruler of the sea," Mokuba began, "Also, Perpetuality is a tragedy…" He wasn't sure if he should continue.

"Ah! That's right! It was." Katsuya perked up. "I knew something was wrong about Haruka's description of the story."

Mokuba nodded. "Aquiminthe fell in love with someone she shouldn't have fallen for. It was also one-sided. Near the end, she was given the option to choose between the sea or the land, and she chose the sea. No matter how you look at it, her decision seems to be the best one, but she could never forget the man she fell in love with and lived in regret and longing her whole life."

Haruka looked like she was about to cry.

"Jeeze. You're such a baby, Haru." Tetsuya smacked her lightly over the head with a pack of tissues. He then turned his head away from her, avoiding eye contact.

"Shut up! I wasn't crying!"

"Ah, sorry." Mokuba rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "I like the version you saw much more. A version where Aquiminthe can find happiness."

"Haruka! Shinji! Tetsuya!" Their teacher was calling them. "It's time to go!"

"Okay!" They cried in unison.

"We never got to talk about the sword fighting," Shinji pointed out.

"Hey! That's not fair." Tetsuya frowned.

"Next time, okay?" Katsuya reassured with a smile.

"It's a deal." Tetsuya nodded.

They exchanged goodbyes and Katsuya was left alone with Mokuba again.

"The role of the ruler is to maintain balance in the sea, to take charge over 'political' matters and to protect the denizens. The inhabitants of the sea will only listen to the ruler chosen by God, who was Aquiminthe at the time. She could not abandon the sea or else the entire system would fall apart." Mokuba suddenly continued the story.

"But she fell in love with a man," Katsuya continued. "She forgot who she was when she was with him."

"He was only a stage actor who performed plays on the beach. She fell in love with his acting first, then his passion, then his heart and finally him as a whole. Other than being a man with a kind heart, Souichirou was just a normal guy. It's really up to the audience's interpretation whether or not Souichirou has any feelings for Aquiminthe."

Katsuya had no idea why Mokuba decided to continue talking about the fairy tale, but he decided to continue listening to him.

Aquiminthe was destined to become the ruler of the sea. Because of this, she was granted the power to 'become' human once in a while by a unicorn. However she could only remain in a 'human' form when she's near the sea. That was how she met Souichirou of course. She loved watching his plays and was eventually able to get to know him.

The story takes place when it was almost time for Aquiminthe to become an adult, meaning it was about time she took over the role of ruler. The sea was already suffering from the chaos due to the absence of a ruler for two years, since the last ruler was deceased.

The unicorn saw Aquiminthe's heart for the sea waver and gave her a choice to stay as the ruler of the sea or to become human for real. She wanted to pursue Souichirou but she couldn't abandon her duties. She promised to never see Souichirou again until she resigns from the throne. When another mermaid who was born with another majestic pearl reached adulthood, she resigned from her throne and swam to the surface, hoping to see Souichirou again, but the only thing she met was an empty beach. There were no more plays being held there, no more children running around playing and no more Souichirou. She knew it was silly to have even tried since mermaids lived longer than humans. There was nothing waiting for her but silence. (2)

"Do you know why Perpetuality is called what it is?" Mokuba turned to Katsuya, they were both sitting on the bench.

Katsuya shook his head. "Because her love was perpetual?"

Mokuba laughed. "Yeah but that's not the only perpetual theme in the story. Aquiminthe will never know what her life would've been like if she had chosen the other path and forever she longs for Souichirou. It's such a stupid story. I hate it."

"I don't think she would be happy no matter which path she chooses; either to live with guilt or with longing. The problem was that she couldn't let go." Why were they still talking about a mermaid story? "What's up with you Kaiba brothers and this story anyway?" He raised a brow. "It's kind of hard to imagine Kaiba of all people liking a mermaid fairy tale." He never pegged Mokuba as a fairy tale type either.

"He doesn't like it. He thinks it's stupid. He thinks Aquiminthe is stupid."

"Uhh…so then why are the messages…?" _Why does it seem like this story holds something deep for you two?_

"Our father was the creator of that story. The original was a play."

"_Gozaburo_?" Okay, he knew that that couldn't be true.

"No." Mokuba half-lidded his eyes, directing a 'You-Dumbass'-look at Katsuya. "Our real father."

Katsuya nodded, he knew that was coming.

"Our father wrote as a hobby—fairy tales to be specific. Naturally this was important to us when we were little and especially so for Big Brother since I wasn't even born at the time when this story was released. Big Brother told me that the family all went out together to watch the first showing of the play. Big Brother really liked the story back then since it was written by Father. He was always proud of Father…"

"The code was made up when we were in the orphanage, during that time Big Brother still adored Perpetuality. You must think it's strange that we kept this code and it kind of is. We don't even like the story anymore now that we've grown up, and Big Brother is someone who would prefer to erase his past, to simply ignore it all and pretend it never happened. We could've easily changed this system of ours but Big Brother never suggested to change it, probably because it would've been the same as erasing a part of the past we had together. Big Brother doesn't want to forget his memories with me and I think he still misses Father deep inside. I don't particularly share these feelings for Father… I was young at the time when Father passed away and it was Big Brother who raised me. As for my mother, I never even met her… since she died giving birth to me."

Katsuya listened silently, watching Mokuba as he spoke. He was startled from the unexpected personal story. He didn't realize he had placed a comforting hand on top of Mokuba's shoulder amidst Mokuba's story.

"Jounouchi."

Katsuya tilted his head slightly, a silent 'what?' reflected from his gesture.

"Almost everything Big Brother does is for me. Almost everything I do is for Big Brother. What I told you today, don't forget that."

"What?" He blinked, utterly confused now. "Uh...sure…"

"You better get going or you're going to be late."

He looked at his watch. "Ah shit! You're right! We never got to duel too! If I don't go now I won't be able to get this soup delivered on time _and_ get to work before five."

"Sorry, Jounouchi!"

"It's not your fault, kiddo."

* * *

After giving Seto Mokuba's soup and note, the rest of his Friday and even the day after were rather uneventful. On Friday, Seto had answered the door slightly lethargically, giving Katsuya the opportunity to 'tell-Kaiba-so' that he shouldn't need to ring the doorbell to get into his apartment. He had left shortly after dropping the soup off. Now it was finally Sunday evening, the promised date Seto and Katsuya appointed to have dinner together. He hoped Seto was feeling well enough for it.

"That won't do!" Katsuya's father pushed his son back into his room and shoved a few big bags of clothes into his arms just when Katsuya stepped out of it. "Choose something from here."

"What? What is this? What won't do? When'd you get home?" He was confused as to what his father was up to.

"Your clothes! You can't go on a date looking like that! You'll embarrass the Jounouchi name!"

"What? It's not a date, old man!" There seriously wasn't any good reputation in the Jounouchi name to damage either. Well, aside from Duel Monsters.

Katsuya's father shook his head. "I bought you some new clothes and a few other things so go on and use them. Choose something more presentable for this dinner occasion."

"Holy fuck, old man. Why'd you buy this shit?" He placed the bags down on his bed and started pulling out his new clothes. They _had_ to be expensive; they _looked_ expensive. Was his father developing a shopping addiction now? He was just getting better with alcoholism and gambling.

His father smiled, quite proud of himself apparently. He had amassed quite a bit of money when he started to cut back on his usual cravings that sucked his wallet dry. Now that he doesn't gamble anymore and only had the occasional drink, his wallet was feeling much heavier than before. It also helped that he had a capable son who was an expert at saving money and managing the family's financial needs.

"Return it now! This is a waste of money!" He didn't need brand names or fancy accessories.

"Listen, boy, I had to ask my co-worker's daughter to help me with this so don't go spoiling other people's efforts."

"We have bills to pay!"

"We're managing just fine." His father took out one of his more favourite shirts from one of the bags and held it up against Katsuya and smiled fondly. His smile quickly dissolved as he began to speak again. "I was never able to buy you anything before so at least let me do that now."

Katsuya didn't know what to say. He was feeling slightly embarrassed with how his father was acting. He never really had the luxury of having his parents buy him material things.

"Fine… But don't do this again, okay? At least not to this extent. You bought way too much." He rubbed the back of his head, looking away from his father and at the clothes instead.

Katsuya's father was happy to see his son smile, even though he knew Katsuya was trying to hide it.

Katsuya went through his pile of new clothes when his father stepped out of his room and closed the door so Katsuya could change in privacy. Was his father trying to re-create his wardrobe? There were new casual and semi-formal clothing items in the pile. There was even a new package of underwear. He wasn't exactly sure what to wear now and the whole 'clothes' thing made him wonder if there was a dress code at the restaurant Seto was going to bring him to. Would it be better if he wore something semi-formal? He didn't know what types of restaurants Seto would dine at or more importantly, what types of restaurant the character Matsuo would dine at. He doubted it was a ramen stand on the street though.

To be safe, he grabbed one of the sleeveless tops and a red dress shirt in the pile and slapped on a pair of new jeans. He stepped outside his room again and was once again shoved back inside by his father.

"Wait! That won't do at all!"

"What is it now?" He already wore one of the new things that his father bought. What else could be wrong?

"You have to put on some makeup." His father held up a box of makeup.

"_What_?" Did his father lose his mind? "Dad! I'm a boy!"

"Yes but you're going on a date with a boy."

"It's not a date! I'm happy you realize that Matsuo is a man but you should also realize the slight problem in your claims."

"That Matsuo guy would look good in makeup." His father pondered for a second, ignoring Katsuya's protests about the whole thing not being a date. "Ah! So he's the girl in the relationship. I had the impression that you were."

"_What_? We're both men and we're _not_ in a relationship!" Him and _Kaiba_? It was weird just thinking about it. Impossible even.

"That Matsuo guy likes you I think." His father shoved the makeup box into Katsuya's hands. "You should ask him to come over for dinner some time."

"Are you even listening to me?" He was starting to get worried that his father might slip a condom in his wallet or something.

"Yes." He started to fix Katsuya's collar, smiling in approval to how his son looked in the new clothes. "That Matsuo guy is gay isn't he?"

"He's gay but I'm not!"

"Gay, bisexual, whatever. Ask him to come over for dinner, okay?"

"No way!" His father wasn't listening at all! "I don't like him that way!" He planned on giving the makeup kit to Shizuka to get rid of it. Unless there was a good reason to, he would never put on makeup. And there was no reason to do so right now, especially since the last thing he needed was for Seto to misunderstand and think he had feelings for him. Their friendship would surely fall apart.

"The fact that you have a dinner date with a gay man alone for no reason already raises up questions."

"Friends can go out for dinner with each other for no reason."

"Then you can invite this 'friend' over for dinner too."

"Fine!" Katsuya gave up and sighed. "He might not agree to it though."

"I doubt that." His father smiled and handed Katsuya some of the accessories he bought for him. "You should put on a bracelet or a ring or something."

Thank god they were male accessories. In order to avoid any nagging from his father, he did as he was told and wore one of the bracelets on his wrist opposite to the one he had his watch on. "Are you satisfied now, old man?" His father _had_ to be confusing him with Shizuka or something.

His father patted him on the back not too gently. "So the makeup…"

"I'm not putting o-"

_-Riiiiing…riiing…_

The cordless phone was right next to Katsuya so he picked it up.

"Hello?" There was a pause and a smile on his face. "Okay." He hung up and returned the phone back in place.

"Matsuo?"

"He said he's outside."

As they left Katsuya's room, his father suddenly pulled out a jacket and held it in front of Katsuya. "Here, wear this. I bought this for you too."

"Exactly how much did you spend?" A look of suspicion loomed on his face. "Dad, do you even have any money left?"

"Don't worry about it. I would've spent it on blackjack and poker anyways."

"You have to return some of this, old man." Katsuya frowned and took out his wallet. "Do you have enough money to get by tomorrow?"

"Just shut up and wear the fucking jacket, you stupid boy!" His father lost his patience and started pushing both Katsuya along with the jacket out the door. "Your date is waiting for you."

"He's not m-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as his dad slammed the door in his face. "F-fine!" He slipped into the jacket and headed down to meet Seto. He checked his pockets for condoms just in case.

* * *

"If you really don't like him then I guess that might be a problem, Katsuya."

Katsuya's father watched the man with an obvious crush on his son from his apartment window.

He watched Katsuya's figure walk up to his date before retreating to Katsuya's room. He stared at two of Katsuya's favourite photos on his desk before picking them up for closer inspection. One of the photos was of Shizuka when she was little and the other was one of Katsuya's graduation photos. Looking at Shizuka made his heart ache.

"Stupid boy." He sighed. He was hoping Katsuya will give the makeup kit to Shizuka. He bought it for her after all. He knew his stupid son wasn't going to use it.

* * *

Seto was standing next to the car he had pulled over in front of the apartment. He raised a brow when he saw Katsuya. Katsuya looked…different.

"Don't ask." Katsuya sighed and took the shotgun seat.

Seto wasn't planning on asking but instead of saying so he stayed with his original plan to remain silent. He climbed into the driver seat, snapped his seatbelt in place and drove off. Katsuya was very pleasing to the eye this evening but he wasn't going to comment on it. He shouldn't look into it too much since it probably didn't mean anything. It was never good to have false hope.

* * *

**Notes:** Yamamamamamamoto!

Is _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ dying down lately or is it just me?

I'm sorry about the mermaid story! (If it bothers you.)

* * *

(1) I am so tempted to write "Jounouchi-nii". Had to refrain myself. Haha. That's how I imagine they'd call him though.

(2) The story ended like that—just Aquiminthe reaching the surface and finding nothing but silence.


	9. The One Who Painted The Sunrise

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

Oh my god. There isn't enough SetoJou artwork. No good doujinshi scans either. Boo to the lack of SetoJou!

**The One Who Painted The Sunrise**

They were both sitting in Seto's borrowed car for about five minutes in silence. Katsuya's mind was still preoccupied with the events earlier with his father. His old man must've hit his head or something. He hoped his father's shopping phase was only temporary or else money will become a problem to the Jounouchi family yet again.

Seto glanced over at Katsuya once in a while. He was curious whether something was bothering the blond since Katsuya hadn't even noticed his occasional glances. For the entire ride so far, Katsuya had been leaning against the far side of his seat while staring out the window, appearing to be deep in thought. He wasn't going to ask him if he was okay of course.

Two more minutes of silence passed before Seto spared another glance.

"Hey." Katsuya turned to look at Seto who quickly darted his eyes back onto the road. He didn't like how his heart sped up a bit at the surprise.

"What?"

"Whose car is this anyways? It smells like honeydew."

_So that's what it is?_ Seto thought it smelled familiar. He couldn't place his finger on it. He thought it was just some weird fruity-flower-mixed perfume.

"It's Miss Double-D's."

Katsuya broke into laughter. "You asked her?"

"I asked the women since I didn't trust the men who would be willing to offer their car to me." The gay men. "Miss Double-D happened to be the one who offered so I accepted."

"Better check the place for spy cams and recorders." Katsuya laughed again. "She might be expecting car-action. I bet you'd like some of that too."

"Projecting is a bad habit, Puppy." Seto smirked. But yes, he would. Katsuya probably didn't even know what projecting was.

"Are you feeling better?" He should've asked that earlier and he would've if his mind wasn't off thinking about his father. Mokuba's soup must've worked wonders since Seto looked almost well enough to wrestle lions.

Seto nodded and for the first time since they met up for dinner, he decided to ask a question. "Is…" But then he changed his mind again.

"What?"

"Nothing."

_Fucking awkward. Why was it so hard to be near this guy? _Katsuya sighed. "If you want to say something, just say it." Even if all Seto had to spew was shit. It wasn't like he wasn't somewhat used to it already.

"Hn. You're thinking into it too much." Seto frowned. Why was he involuntarily self-conscious about how he should act towards Katsuya today? It wasn't a date! Should he say the things he normally would say? 'Shut up, bonkotsu', 'My 'problems' are none of your concern', etc. Would it ruin everything and make Katsuya run off? Would that be better?

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Twilight City." He was prepared for Katsuya's reaction.

"Isn't that a…" A restaurant for couples? He turned to look at Seto, his eyes slightly widened.

"Yes, it's considered a romantic restaurant so a lot of couples go there but it's still just a restaurant."

"B-but why _there_?" Katsuya's cheeks flushed. "There are so many other good restaurants!"

"Because _Matsuo_ likes Katsuya." He stated it as a fact.

"Why'd you decide _that_?"

The car suddenly stopped.

"Why'd you stop?" Maybe Seto was angry.

"We're here, mutt."

"Oh."

They got out of the car at the same time but Katsuya didn't plan on letting the topic slide. They were lucky there wasn't anyone else in the parkade.

"You _still_ could've picked another restaurant."

"It was already decided that Katsuya looks like Kazuki, therefore Matsuo would have some feelings for Katsuya." Seto spoke quietly. "It's also within Matsuo's taste range in restaurants. Why else would I agree to go to Amaranthine with my co-workers?" Matsuo was supposed to be romantic.

"Why do you have to make your life so much harder, man?" Katsuya sighed, giving up. Why couldn't Seto pick an easier character to pretend to be? But he supposed it was somewhat a given since Matsuo's reason for moving to Domino for a period in the first place was to get over his love for Kazuki. It should've been obvious that Matsuo was someone who focused on romance a lot. He couldn't help but feel like he was somewhat tricked into this whole thing though. But that would mean other…impossible things.

"I was under the impression that it didn't matter to you where we dined at. As long as there was food, you'd stuff your face full anyway."

"Shaddap." It was the smartest thing his mind had come up with at the moment. He frowned when he saw Seto grin. The stupid jackass just wanted to mess with his mind! Why did everyone enjoy doing these things to him so much? "You just wanted to fuck with me didn't you?"

"Hn." Seto smirked. Internally, he was laughing. It wasn't a 'happy' laugh or something you would call 'true from the heart'. It was more like an evil chuckle of self pride because your plan was fucking epic mixed with an 'I'm-next-to-such-a-dumbass-laugh'. He felt like he had won a card game. He could think of various ways he could 'fuck with' Katsuya. He also couldn't believe how the scenario played out exactly how he thought it would. The puppy was so easy to fool.

"Remember that you're having dinner with Matsuo—" Seto suddenly smiled and chuckled softly like a prince. "—Katsuya."

"What the hell?" Katsuya couldn't help shivering. "Don't do that!"

"Don't think too hard and go with the flow, mutt." Seto faked another smile.

"Yeah. I think my brain broke," he said it sarcastically. "Are we going to get out of this parking lot or what?"

They left the underground parkade and took the flight of stairs to reach the restaurant. When they reached the door of Twilight City, Seto suddenly stopped in front of the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Katsuya pointed at the glass doors of the restaurant. "Uh…I think that's the door we want."

"A few ladies are going to greet us." He knew what they were up to.

Moments later, the elevator door opened and the three ladies wore shocked expressions when they found Seto standing in front of them, smiling. He had seen them enter the building when they were climbing up the stairs.

"Well, fancy bumping into you here Miss Miyagi, Miss Kudo, Ms Ito and Ms Watanabe." Those four bothered him so much at work that he managed to remember their names.

Katsuya didn't understand how Seto managed to pull off those fake smiles. He didn't understand why these ladies would follow them either. At least that was what it looked like.

"Ohoho." Miss Double-D laughed while the other ladies started to follow suit. "It is! It must be fate, Matsuo dear." She gave him a wink. "Your date looks lovely."

"Th-thanks?" Katsuya wasn't sure if he were to say anything.

"We were just thinking about going out for some fine dining." Miss Double-D chuckled. "Don't worry about us, we won't get in your way."

Seto laughed softly. "At Twilight City? You ladies sure are… exquisite."

"Can't four ladies have a double date or something?" Raisin Bran added.

"Aren't two of you married?" Seto raised a brow. "I don't know how you ladies found out where I was going but please, Katsuya and I would really want to have dinner _privately_."

The ladies looked at each other and collectively sighed. "All right, Matsuo." Miss Double-D looked defeated. "We'll leave to another restaurant instead if it bothers you so much."

"Thank you." Seto grabbed Katsuya's hand and dragged him into the restaurant. He didn't believe for a second that the four of them would leave them alone so easily. He'll just have to ensure that they couldn't get near them.

The Maître d' greeted them formally and politely. "Do you have any reservations, Sirs?"

"Yes, under 'Matsuo'."

The Maître d' smiled. "Please show them to their table, Kei."

The waiter bowed. "Right this way, please."

"There are four ladies who seemed to be following us. They seem suspicious." Seto spoke quietly to the waiter who nodded.

"It's our policy to make sure all our customers are to feel at most comfort here." The waiter smiled. "If the mentioned ladies do end up dining here and troubling you, we'll remove them immediately."

"Thank you." Seto gave him one of those Matsuo-smiles.

"Here you are, Sirs." He removed the reserved sign sitting on the table and handed them both a menu before bowing and walking elegantly across the black marble floor.

Katsuya was astounded by the beauty inside the restaurant. It was much bigger and even prettier than Amaranthine!

"This place is crazy! There was a fountain at the entrance _inside_ the restaurant!"

Seto only stared at his menu. He was getting used to the puppy getting excited over little things. He was glad he didn't choose a place that required a dress code and the most proper table manners. Katsuya would be lacking in both areas.

The waiter came by again, placing two glasses of water on the table. Katsuya thanked him before the waiter left again.

The entire dining area was surrounded by glass walls, allowing the exhilarating view of the city lights to be seen. The ambient blue lighting painted a relaxing and romantic atmosphere which was accompanied by the soft music that was playing in the restaurant. Every table had lights coming from the ground, directed on the side of the table cloth, in the form of stars. They were even shone onto the ceiling above the tables.

Katsuya wasn't even sure what type of cuisine was served at Twilight City. He was only aware that it was a romantic restaurant serving some sort of 'international' cuisine. He stared at the menu but half of it consisted of foreign dishes that he had never heard of.

"Um… Do you mind ordering for me? I can't decide." He also didn't want to select something himself since the menu choices were more expensive than an average restaurant. He didn't want to appear as though he was shamelessly leeching.

Seto looked up from his menu and gave Katsuya a disbelieving look. "You sure you want me to do that for you?" He had never been to this restaurant before either. Perhaps he'll just order a decent sounding pasta for Katsuya.

If Seto wasn't choosing a restaurant based on Matsuo and Katsuya, he probably would've brought his date to Subzero instead. It was a very expensive restaurant, required a dress code and was known for many delectable dishes.

"Yes." He nodded and started to marvel his surroundings again. Katsuya really liked how the restaurant was circular. The tables were situated around a dance floor where the music was coming from. The dance floor was at a lower level so it had to be reached by one of the four stairs from the dining area. The walls surrounding the dance floor wore a gentle red hue, imitating the time of twilight.

Seto finished deciding the orders and placed his menu down. He took a sip from his glass of water and watched Katsuya who looked comely under the blue light.

"Are you ready to order, Sirs?" The waiter returned to their table again with a pen and pad in his hands. He nodded and scribbled into it every time Seto pointed out the items he wanted from the menu.

"You don't have to order that much." Katsuya leaned towards the table a bit. "I'll be fine with just an entrée."

"Don't act so humble when you're not. You used to jump at free food."

They both knew how much Katsuya could eat.

"I probably still would but _some_ things do change." He also liked Seto a lot more now so he didn't want him to spend money on him even if Seto was rich.

Seto scoffed. "You're forgetting that I'm paying you back for food."

Katsuya sighed and for some reason it made Seto nervous.

"I will be leaving for America soon." Seto changed the topic.

"Hmm? Why?"

"There's not much left for me to do here. I'll fill you in the more private details later."

"When are you leaving?"

"End of September. I'm going to give them my two weeks notice tomorrow." He held the glass of water over his lips and spoke softly. "I'll be back on the 15th of October." He took a sip when the waiter returned with their salads.

"Umm…This might be weird but…" Katsuya wasn't sure how to bring it up. There was no way that Seto would agree to it and the dinner would definitely get awkward. Although he _could_ just pretend that Seto had refused him and lie to his father about ever asking…

"You see… My old man was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner some time." Katsuya laughed hesitantly. "You don't have to of course!"

Seto had to think before responding. "Why?" His eyes were studying Katsuya as if he was trying to figure out what he was thinking or what his motive was.

"That stupid old man just misunderstood some things but it's not important." He sighed. "We don't have people over for dinner often so it would be kind of nice. I thought I'd ask you now since you're going to be leaving soon."

"All right."

"What?" Katsuya dropped the fork in his hand and it landed back onto his plate.

"I'll go."

His old man was right? _How_? He was _so_ sure that Seto would reject!

"G-great!" Katsuya grinned. He wanted to ask why but he was afraid Seto might change his mind if he did.

They ate their salad in silence, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere around them and thinking about what to say or do next. Katsuya finished his salad really quickly so he sat there watching Seto eat and listening to the music. He was kind of happy that Seto actually agreed.

"What?"

Katsuya smiled. "Nothing."

"…" _Strange…_

Just as Seto finished with his salad, the waiter returned with their entrées. Katsuya peered curiously at the dishes that were placed down. Seto seemed to be eating some sort of chicken with vegetables and rice. He got some sort of seafood pasta. Were those mussels?

"What is that?" He pointed his fork at Seto's plate.

"Stuffed chicken breast."

"That looks good." He hung his fork between his lips.

Seto could superimpose drool hanging off the corner of Katsuya's lips.

"Wanna split our meal in half and give it to the other?" He grinned.

Seto shrugged and started to divide his meal up with his fork. While transferring half his meal on to Katsuya's plate, half of Katsuya's pasta was placed onto his.

It was probably a 'cute' sight or something since the waiter saw them and the hints of a grin were starting to form on his face.

"Sirs, is this your first time here?" The waiter returned with a Polaroid camera.

"Yes, it is." Katsuya smiled.

"Would you like me to take a picture for the two of you? We always offer to take a picture for our new customers. It's free."

"Sure!" Katsuya responded cheerfully while putting down his fork.

Seto was slightly startled by Katsuya's answer and stiffened. He didn't really want to take a picture.

"Want to sit closer, Sirs?"

Katsuya scooted his seat over to where Seto was and sat next to him.

"A little closer." The waiter gestured with his hand towards the direction Katsuya should move.

Katsuya complied but somehow his clumsy self caused him to lose balance slightly and 'fall' onto Seto. He was pressed against Seto's chest for a second before blushing from embarrassment, apologizing and repositioning himself. The two of them ended up _pretty_ close because of that though; Seto's cheek could almost touch Katsuya's hair. It would've if he leaned over slightly. He cursed himself for it but he couldn't help but find Katsuya adorable at the moment. He wished he was allowed to wrap his arms around his puppy and bring him onto his lap. Without realizing it, he smiled at his thoughts. Just then the flash went off, along with his momentary contentment.

The waiter took another picture before handing the two pictures to Katsuya and leaving.

Katsuya gave Seto their second picture, the one where Seto wasn't smiling, and kept the first.

"Give me that first one." Seto tried to grab it from Katsuya's hands but failed to.

Katsuya laughed. "No way! You're _smiling_ in this one." He passed it off as Seto smiling to thoughts of Mokuba. Lucky him! He got a picture of the big mean and serious CEO of Kaiba Corporation smiling! A soft smile but still a smile! The thing that pleased Katsuya most was that it wasn't one of those fake Matsuo smiles; it appeared _genuine _and although a scary thought, loving.

Unlike the first photograph, Seto wasn't smiling anymore.

"Aww… Am I being a bad date?" Katsuya teased and batted his eyelashes jokingly. "Lighten up! It's not my fault you didn't smile in the second one."

While Katsuya moved his chair back to its original position, Seto leaned forward and snatched the picture from him.

"Hey!" Katsuya tried to take it back but Seto dodged him.

"You're blushing like a tomato in this picture." Seto smirked. "Is that why you're trying so hard to keep it?" Seto was exaggerating. There was only a light flush left from the embarrassment Katsuya felt for tripping.

"As if! Give it back to me! That's the defective one anyway. I gave you the better one!" Katsuya held out the palm of his hand.

"No." Seto shoved it into his coat pocket. "Eat. Your food is getting cold."

_Just you wait, Kaiba. Just you wait…_

So they sat and ate. Katsuya was pleased with his meal and ate heartily. They had started talking about random things here and there and made comments about things in the restaurant and each other's eating habits. And soon, their desserts came.

Strawberry Sorbet.

"Sweet!" Katsuya exclaimed.

"Here." Seto pushed his sorbet across the table in front of Katsuya.

"You don't want it?"

"I'm not fond of sweet things."

"Why'd you order one then?"

"I thought you'd like two." He responded nonchalantly.

The situation made Katsuya's smile widen. He felt slightly moved and happy. Seto was being considerate to him when he was ordering. It was so…'sweet', especially since this was coming from Seto.

"Th-thanks."

The quantity of the sorbet was small so Katsuya could finish it in a flash. He felt a touch disappointed that their night together was going to end so soon. It took some effort to get Seto to participate in a decent conversation with him so it felt like their outing only just began.

"So you said you liked chess?"

Seto nodded. The CEO finished his meal so he occupied his time sipping whatever was left in his glass of water and watching Katsuya eat his sorbet. He noticed that Katsuya was eating his sorbet rather strangely and slowly.

"I'm not good at that game."

He didn't expect Katsuya to be.

"You should teach me some time."

The classic 'molesting your student while playing teacher' scenario came to Seto's mind. It didn't sound like a bad idea.

"Maybe. I haven't played it in a while." It had been ages actually.

"I guess chess tournaments aren't as cool as Duel Monsters tournaments but then again… you don't really participate in those either."

"No time."

_And no point since Yugi would just kick your ass_. Katsuya snickered in his mind but unknowingly expressed his thoughts on his face.

Seto raised a brow to the strange expression but didn't comment on it. Instead he called the waiter over for the bill. He noticed the disappointed look on Katsuya's face as he finished up the last bit of Seto's sorbet.

"Do you want to come with me to Domino Park? I have things to tell you." Seto paid and slipped into his jacket.

"Sure." He didn't mind at all.

* * *

There were barely anyone in the park in the night; in the rare occasion there would be one or two souls taking an evening stroll but other than that Seto and Katsuya were pretty much alone in Domino Park. They were originally strolling but eventually decided to sit down on a bench. Seto didn't seem to want to begin 'talking' until he was sure no one else was around to hear their soft whispers.

"So what's up?"

Seto looked around before replying. "Yamamoto Kenji is a hard man to follow. There hasn't been any leads. He's too clean." He frowned since it felt like he only wasted his time throughout the entire mission. "I have to go back now anyways since I still have business in America and I have to be back for that stupid party."

"So no more Matsuo-business?"

"Yes. Tell Mokuba to go all out."

"To go all out? No more mermaids?"

"He'll understand."

Katsuya didn't doubt it so he nodded.

"So…" Katsuya scratched his cheek. "Wanna duel once you come back or something… like hanging out?"

Seto was quiet for a moment. "You wouldn't be…I don't think I have the time."

Katsuya knew what Seto was about to say and frowned. "You'd be surprised. Besides! After all this trouble I've been through for you, you'd think the least you can do is honour me with a card game."

It wasn't that Seto didn't want to spend time with Katsuya or play card games with him… He just expected that once he returns to being 'Kaiba Seto', this entire thing would be over and there would be no reason for him to associate with Katsuya. There would be no reason for Katsuya to visit him or for them to even speak to each other.

"All right, but under certain conditions."

"What?"

"We play under my rules."

"What? Again? Why can't you just play against me normally?"

"I don't have to play you."

Katsuya's eyes narrowed slightly. "Man, I hate you _so_ much." He shuffled over on the bench so that he was sitting right next to Seto and leaned closer to him so that their noses were mere inches apart. Seto instinctively backed up but only met the back of the park bench.

"What are you doing?" Yes, the park did seem hotter.

"There's something on your hair." Katsuya fiddled with the tips of Seto's wig and grinned.

Seto was silent. He wasn't sure what was happening but knew he wasn't dreaming.

Katsuya leaned back and waved a hand in front of the dumbstruck Seto. "Hello? Earth to Rich Boy _tsssh_, do you read me? _tsssh_."

Seto stared at Katsuya, initially looking slightly puzzled before a smile formed on his face. It was a regular Kaiba-smile with the slight smugness. "Negative." _What was bonkotsu up to? Revenge for last time?_ He was amused.

Katsuya's grin grew. "So what are these rules I have to follow?"

"You'll have to wait and see." Seto smirked.

"I'm not sure if I like that look on your face."

"Do you want to go home now?" It was 15 minutes before 10:00pm on his watch.

"Yeah. I have work tomorrow." He stretched as he got up. "By the way, I had fun today. Thanks—for the meal."

Inside, Seto felt pleased.

"You don't have to drive me home. I can walk home from here."

"Are you sure? Don't you sleep around this time?"

"Well, it's not exactly 'on the way' for you to drive me."

"Get in the car." Seto opened the car door for him and Katsuya complied.

* * *

Katsuya's father was waiting for Katsuya's return and was peering outside his apartment window from behind the curtains. Katsuya didn't notice this but Seto did and it brought an idea to his head.

"Well, thanks for taking me home." He undid his seatbelt.

"Don't move."

"What?"

Seto took off his own seatbelt, reached over Katsuya and pulled the lever that controlled the angle of the backrest while pushing Katsuya against the back of his seat.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Katsuya tried to get up but Seto's hands were pinning him down on the seat.

"Be quiet." Seto smirked and hovered over Katsuya.

Katsuya was glad it was dark or Seto would have notice the flush on his cheeks. What the hell was going on?

Seto didn't do anything though; he only hovered over him like the time they were outside YamamotoCorp. He soon returned to his seat and wore his seatbelt again.

"What was that about?"

"I was giving your father something to ponder about." Seto grinned and pushed open the car door for Katsuya. "Good night, Bonkotsu."

_The fuck? _Katsuya groaned. He didn't want to face his father now. "Good night, Jackass."

Seto watched Katsuya enter the apartment before taking the photo they took at the restaurant out from his pocket. He looked at it and frowned. The photo was swapped! It was the photo Katsuya originally gave him out of the two they took. There was even a little note in his pocket. 'Sucker!'

"When did he?-That little thief."

He smiled at the picture even though it wasn't the one where Katsuya was blushing.

_Sneaky puppy._

* * *

"Come in."

"Vice President!" A forty-year-old man holding a binder hurried into Mokuba's office, looking slightly frantic and pale.

"What's wrong?"

"We just confirmed Kowri's new project. They're planning on making a game based on ancient Egypt. It's similar to our project Atem in our withheld list."

"It could be just a coincidence…"

"Well the project name is the same, Sir."

"What else did you find?" His tone was serious.

"There are a few other suspicious projects going on at Kowri, AlphaGamma, YamamotoCorp, etcetera which have similarities to the ones in our data bank. However it is hard to say if they really are copies since they were never released anywhere. The President has not gone through them yet due to his absence so they only reside within our database."

"_All_ the gaming companies in Japan?" Mokuba's eyes widened.

"The only companies that may not have copied from us are Denz and Eimei."

"Is it only the projects that have not been reviewed by the president that are being copied?" Mokuba could tell that he and probably the other associates who knew about this problem were worried about their future and Kaiba Corporation's future.

"Mostly." The man looked hesitant.

"What's wrong?"

"May I suggest something?"

"Of course, Kakihara." If his big brother were with them at the moment, he would have snapped and responded with 'what do you think I pay you for?' to Kakihara's question. Many employees who haven't been working for him long enough really have fear beat into them with his temper.

"It's possible that we might have an internal spy or a traitor." Kakihara's grip on the binder tightened.

"Is that what the binder is?"

Kakihara nodded and placed the binder on Mokuba's desk. "They are records of our newer employees. It might not be them but it seemed like a place to start the investigation."

Mokuba sighed. He didn't think it was an internal thing but there was no reason for Kakihara to think so nor was there a reason to eliminate that possibility. He really hoped it wasn't something internal. "I will go through them later but I doubt I will find anything. Anyways, thank you, Kakihara."

"It's my pleasure, Vice President."

_Knock knock._

"Come in."

Kakihara bowed and excused himself before leaving Mokuba's office as Isono entered the room.

"Vice President." Isono bowed.

"Do you have information on Eimei?"

"No, Sir. We haven't been able to find anything new lately but they are still the most likely suspects."

"What is it then?" He hoped it was good news this time.

"There seems to be a problem with our project database." Isono looked troubled, unsure how he should break the news to the younger Kaiba. This made Mokuba worry.

"What's wrong with it?"

"We didn't notice this before since it was subtle but it has come to a point where it has started to cause confusion between the departments. It seems that our database has been sabotaged—corrupt files, missing information and the like."

"WHAT?" Mokuba stood up abruptly. "No…" This had never happened to him before. He was always able to run the company smoothly even when Seto was absent so why? What was going on? Had he failed his brother? "No…" he said it again but more softly.

All project ideas and research were stored in that database. Kaiba Corporation was a big company so they relied on the network to communicate effectively between different branches and departments. Seto was the final word for everything but new project ideas were always made from different departments. Whenever a project idea was made, the proposal was saved onto the database for other departments to review. If a project was agreed upon by the higher-ups in the company, it would reach Seto's desk for his approval. Of course Seto could go through the database any time himself if he wished to find a project that he may have interest in even if it never reached his desk.

"Isono, we're going to run a check up on the entire system now. Tell the departments. We have a backup on everything so it can be saved but even so, we have to sort this thing out. Find out how this happened!"

They had to. If Seto found out that they let this happen during his absence they would have hell to pay. Mokuba fell back onto his seat.

"Yes, Vice President!" Isono exclaimed.

"Wait, Isono."

"Yes, Vice President?"

"Have you heard anything about the other companies copying our ideas from our database?"

"Yes. Because of our plan for the Kaiba Duel console, the video game developing team had been releasing a lot of project ideas. The newer proposals mostly consisted of these which were coincidently the ideas likely being mimicked by other companies. Again coincidently, all the gaming companies who had activities of copying lately are game developing companies. Of course the most important point: Eimei and Denz are exceptions to this phenomenon."

"Please lock up our entire system and disconnect the VPN."

"But, Vice President that would block connection to other-"

"Just do it. We're not communicating with outside branches or letting anyone in until we clean up our system. It's only going to cause more confusion anyways."

"Yes, Vice President." Isono bowed before rushing off with the message.

"Oh, Big Brother…"

* * *

**Notes:** Wow this chapter is short. I thought chapter 8 was short but this one is shorter. Anyways I hope you liked this chapter.

Thank you Sunshine Melodi for helping out with the restaurant design.

Thanks to everyone who left reviews for the last chapter! I never did a 'reply to anonymous' before but I saw some other people do it and it seemed like a neat idea. So…

* * *

**Replies:**

**evvy**- I'm glad you liked Katsuya's imitation of Seto. I always loved how playful Katsuya is. Thanks!

**Plata-Azul**- Wah! Thank you! Of course you may but my reply is going to be: _ohohohohohoho_ -Gets hit by a brick- It makes me happy when people make predictions about the plot. Hikaru's dad has yet to show up...

**Tingerz**- No condom in the wallet sadly.

**Purple Yam**- Yay!

**Ashimaru**- Wah! You're too nice! Thank you for such a lovely review! "Duel Monsters" really is rare in a fanfic. I try to keep them in the same universe but sometimes it's very difficult. I'm glad you like it though!

**anonymous**- The heisitations are understandable. I'm not good at making summaries and such but I'm happy you ended up liking it! I'm a sucker for fluff so..."cute" is going to be around. Thanks! (I love writing Jou-Papa!)


	10. The One Who Monopolized My Thoughts

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

Wow the last time I updated was the 19th of June 2008. Excuse me while I hide from everyone. Sorry it took so long! I _really_ wonder if anyone even remembers this story or are still following it or even still waiting. Haha… I hope I get to finish this story though. I haven't written anything in ages so I hope my writing didn't get worse.

And yes, Katsuya swapped the photos during that awkward moment in the park in the last chapter.

**The One Who Monopolized My Thoughts**

The mall was always the busiest during the weekends. Not to mention there was a giant clearance sale at a popular brand name store where everyone was rushing to try to get their hands on whatever they could. Katsuya couldn't keep track of how many people had accidentally bumped into his shoulder already. He had only been at the mall for half an hour and his shoulder was starting to feel sore.

"Hey guys, how does this look?" Anzu held up a purple tank top against herself and posed with one arm on her waist.

"Shopping already? Shizuka and Otogi haven't even showed up yet." Hiroto was grinning as he leaned against the wall.

"There's no harm in browsing! Besides, we're not going to get to shop afterwards so what's the harm in doing a little now before everyone's here? We're at the mall after all."

"Women." Hiroto shook his head slowly, earning a glare from Anzu.

Yugi only laughed softly at the situation, completely used to the typical interaction Anzu and Hiroto had.

"So, Anzu," Katsuya began, "you said you had some good news for us?"

Anzu was the one who called them all out to announce some sort of 'big news'. They decided to make it a movie date since they all haven't seen each other for a while.

Everyone Anzu invited had successfully reserved the day free for her except Ryou, who had previous engagements. For once in his life, Katsuya was looking forward to seeing Ryuuji again. They may not have been the closest grapes in the bundle in the past but if he could become friends with Seto, then no one can really predict how close two people can become in the future. And _no one_ would ever guess that Katsuya and Seto were friends now.

"It's a surprise! I'll announce it once everyone's here."

"Hey, Yugi, did you hear anything from Kaiba lately?" Katsuya turned to his friend.

Upon immediate mention of Kaiba Seto's name, everyone turned to look at Katsuya, wearing stunned expressions on their faces.

"Actually I did get a call from Mokuba about Kaiba," Yugi answered.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"I thought Yugi was joking when he said you were bringing up Kaiba often these days," Anzu said, still looking quite confused.

"Only a few times and it's no different compared to bringing up any other kind of topic."

"That's true but this is Kaiba and you we're talking about… you two weren't exactly…" Anzu tried to think of a good term.

"Friends?" Hiroto offered.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well we are n-" Katsuya stopped himself from saying 'now'. "Not that bad." Oh damn, it would've been weird if had to make up a cover story to explain how he was keeping in touch with Seto.

"Are you kidding me?" Anzu said.

He sighed and hoped his friends won't make an even bigger deal when they actually see him and Kaiba hanging out in the future. "What did he say, Yugi?"

"Kaiba's coming back soon from America. I think he said the 15th of October."

Katsuya was about to respond but became completely distracted when he caught a glimpse of his adorable little sister amongst the crowd of shoppers.

"Sorry, guys! I'm late!" Shizuka exclaimed as she came running towards them along with Hikaru.

"It's alright. Who's this cutie?" Anzu smiled at Hikaru, who immediately hid behind Shizuka.

"He's a friend of mine who lives next door. I was watching him for his parents but his father called an hour ago to tell me that he had sudden plans and wasn't able to pick Hikaru up yet. I was already late and didn't want to bail so I left the house with Hikaru. I'm sorry I didn't ask everyone else about this first. His father said that he'd probably come pick Hikaru up after the movie."

"Of course it's alright." Anzu didn't mind. No one did.

Yugi nodded and smiled at Hikaru but only received a glare from him.

"Is he glaring at me?" Yugi whispered discreetly to Katsuya.

Katsuya nodded. Hikaru probably recognized the Duel Monsters champion and probably hated Yugi more than him. He didn't think Hikaru liked any of them except perhaps Anzu. Hiroto and the soon-to-arrive Ryuuji were his 'love rivals' while he and Yugi were duelists. Katsuya sighed at that thought. He wondered what kind of man Hikaru's dad was if he raised a son to hate duelists so much. He couldn't be that bad since Shizuka hasn't said anything bad about him yet.

"Anyways this is Hikaru," Shizuka began, "and Hikaru, this is Anzu and Yugi." She pointed at them respectively when she mentioned their names. "And the one walking towards us right now—Ryuuji—you've already met once before." She shouted his name and waved at him as he approached them oh-so-charmingly.

"_What_?" Hiroto shouted.

"Ryu-RYU-?" Katsuya was appalled. "Since when did you two get so _close_?" Did this mean that Ryuuji was one step ahead of Hiroto? She only called him 'Honda'! (1)

Katsuya ran up and grabbed Ryuuji by his shirt collar.

"Whoa." Ryuuji moved back instinctively. "It's good to see you too, Jounouchi."

"Don't 'good-to-see-you-too' me, Otogi! Explain yourself!"

"Still the same I see, Jounouchi. You'll have to be more specific on what I am to explain."

"You know what I'm talking about!" He was _so_ taking back ever feeling glad to see Ryuuji again.

Anzu shook her head and sighed. "You guys…"

Katsuya whipped his head to Hiroto who was frozen from shock. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Calm down, Jounouchi." Ryuuji removed Katsuya's hands from his shirt and took a few steps to hug Shizuka. "Shizuka! I missed you!"

Shizuka giggled and returned the hug. "But we spoke last night."

"What do you mean you spoke _last night_?" Jounouchi almost shrieked. Both he and Hikaru were glaring daggers at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji ignored Katsuya's question and greeted everyone else. "It's pretty busy here today. Huge sale huh?"

"There's a sale?" Shizuka's face lit up.

"Yeah. What do you think of this shirt, Shizuka?" Anzu held up the same purple top against her body again.

"It's really cute. You should try it on."

"W-wait weren't we going to the movies?" Hiroto interrupted. Everyone could read his mind repeating '_please_ no clothes shopping, _pleeeeease_'.

Yugi nodded. He too didn't want to go clothes shopping. "We should get our tickets or else they might sell out," he suggested.

Anzu sighed and returned the top to the proper rack of clothes. "Fine."

As they walked through the busy mall towards the theatres, Ryuuji swung an arm over Katsuya who was still glaring at him.

"Get off me, you." He directed the glare at the offending arm.

"Jounouchi, are you jealous?" Ryuuji said playfully and rubbed the bottom of Katsuya's chin with his index finger. "Wow your skin's really soft."

Katsuya slapped the hand away. "Hey, you shut up about that."

"I can call you 'Katsuya' if you feel left out," he joked and waggled his eyebrows but ended up bursting in laughter. "Haha! Sorry I couldn't even keep a straight face when saying that."

Hiroto suddenly had an idea and tapped Shizuka on the shoulder. "Hey, Shizuka. How about c-calling me 'Hi-Hi-Hii-'" He was blushing and his words didn't seem to form.

"He?" She cocked her head to the side, confused.

Everyone else sighed internally. Hiroto was such an idiot.

"What the idiot's trying to say is 'Hiroto'," Anzu helped.

"Sure!" Shizuka giggled. "I don't mind."

Hiroto beamed. "Shi-Shizuka!" He was definitely in heaven but Katsuya brought him back to Earth with a good punch across his head. "Ow!"

"What are you trying to pull, asshole?" He grabbed Hiroto's collar just as he did with Otogi.

Hikaru didn't like the idea either and kicked Hiroto's left shin.

"Ow!"

"Big Brother! Hikaru!"

Shizuka's sweet voice made Katsuya drop Hiroto to the ground instantly. "D-don't be angry, Shizuka. It was reflex. Really, reflex."

Shizuka frowned.

"I think I deserve an apology," Hiroto claimed as he stood up and fixed his shirt.

"Why you!"

Hiroto quickly hid behind Shizuka.

"You coward!"

"Big Brother!"

_Damn it!_

Yugi was starting to get nervous at the scene the boys were making and glanced at Anzu who looked like she was feeling the same way. "S-So uh…we're all here now, Anzu! What was the great news?" He hoped a change in subject would calm the boys down.

"Oh! Of course!" Anzu clapped her hands together. "I got accepted to the performance arts school in America I always wanted to go to for dance!"

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds before the news sunk in. They practically jumped her as they congratulated her and cheered.

Yugi beamed. "That's so great, Anzu! I'm so happy for you!"

"How long is it going to be for? Are you going to come back?" Shizuka asked.

Anzu nodded. "It'll be two years but I don't know if I want to stay there longer or not. I still haven't decided if I want to pursue a career over there or not." She was looking at Yugi when the last few words left her lips.

"We're going to miss you a lot," Katsuya said.

"I'm going to miss you guys too."

"All those extra English classes you took must have paid off," Hiroto commented.

Anzu laughed. "This might be the last time I'll see some of you guys so we better make it worthwhile. Let's celebrate! Movie time!"

* * *

Before they knew it, the movie was over and everyone was exiting the theatre. Katsuya shifted uncomfortably in his seat before getting up to stretch and following the others out. A two hour romantic comedy was a bit much for Katsuya but he was outvoted by his friends. He secretly did enjoy the movie but he wasn't going to ever admit that.

They originally wanted to watch a movie about a rookie duelist who ends up saving the world, becomes the Duel Monster's champion, finds love and pretty much just kicks ass. But since Hikaru was with them they decided to watch some romantic comedy the girls and Hiroto seemed worked up over.

"The part where Kouji wanted to impress Ayumi was so funny!" Anzu giggled and continued chatting with Shizuka and Hiroto. These three immediately started to discuss their favourite scenes once they finally stepped foot into a lit room.

"Tanaka Momoko really played Ayumi well. I love her acting!" Shizuka exclaimed and turned to her brother. "You recognized her right?"

Before Katsuya could answer, Shizuka's phone began to ring, blasting out the theme song to one of Tanaka Momoko's romance drama shows. "Oh, hold on a sec." She answered her phone. "Hello? ... Yes, we just finished watching the movie. Oh? Okay, see you soon."

"Who was it?" Katsuya asked.

"Hikaru's dad is here. He's coming upstairs now."

Just as she finished speaking, Hikaru let go Shizuka's hand and ran towards a tall man who looked like he was in his late 30s. "Daddy!" he exclaimed and jumped into his arms.

"Wow, I've never seen Hikaru smile like _that_ before," Katsuya said quietly to Shizuka.

"He really loves his father," she stated simply.

The man walked over to the group with Hikaru and smiled. "Hi, I'm Kuroki Akira. Thanks for watching him for me. I hope he wasn't any trouble."

"Oh not at all," Shizuka said. "He was wonderful like always. Oh and these are my friends. Mutou Yugi, Mazaki Anzu, Honda Hiroto, Otogi Ryuuji and my older brother, Jounouchi Katsuya."

There was a slight pause before Hikaru's father responded. "It's a pleasure to meet you…" The response seemed to be particularly directed to Yugi and Katsuya.

"Nice to meet you," the group chimed.

"Mutou Yugi, the Duel Monster's champion and Jounouchi Katsuya who ranks third currently in the world. These are quite the people you know Shizuka."

Shizuka only giggled. "They're just regular boys once you get to know them."

"Oh." A smile crept up on his face. "I'm looking forward to it but I have to take Hikaru home now or we'll be late for dinner. Goodbye, everyone." His eyes moved to Yugi and Katsuya. "It was nice meeting you."

Hikaru gave the two duelists a glare before turning around with his father and leaving the mall."

"Okaaay…that was majorly awkward and weird," Katsuya admitted.

Yugi nodded. "I can't explain why but I got the same feeling."

"Maybe you look like someone he knows," offered Ryuuji.

Katsuya really doubted that it was as simple as Ryuuji suggested. From what he heard from the kids at the park, Hikaru's dad didn't like Duel Monsters. The meeting now just reinforced that fact. What bothered Katsuya the most was that Kuroki Akira seemed to have a stranger smile for him than he did when he was facing Yugi. Did he dislike him more than the World Champion? Maybe there was something on his face because Hikaru clearly disliked Yugi more than him. Should Hikaru's father not be the same? Oh whatever. He supposed not everyone was going to love Duel Monsters—to each and their own. At least Kuroki Akira wasn't attacking them about it like Hikaru does. Katsuya shook his head and dismissed his thoughts on the matter since it was starting to make him feel paranoid about his face.

* * *

"Jounouchi! Check your locker!" Susumu cried behind the door of his own locker just as Katsuya stepped into the staff room.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"You'll see. You'll be so amused." Susumu grinned.

Curious, Katsuya walked over to his locker immediately and looked inside. There was a sheet of paper inside that didn't belong to him.

**Amaranthine Monthly Survey**

**Date:** _September 27__th_  
**Created By:** _Jin_

**Question: What kind of underwear do you think the hosts and waiters wear?**

Please fill in below the type of undergarment YOU THINK each of the following people wear. This survey is anonymous and the results will be tallied and announced on _Sept 27_ at _11:00 pm_. After completion, please submit this sheet into Jin's locker.

**Hosts:**  
Aikawa Isamu: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
Nishino Susumu:  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
Sato Jin: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   
Sekimoto Seiichi: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
Shimizu Yuki: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Waiters:**  
Chiba Daisuke: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
Fujita Kyou: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
Imagawa Shigeru: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  
Jounouchi Katsuya: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ **  
**Ri Isao: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ **  
**Shindou Naoki: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ **  
**Tsuruya Yuudai: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What the hell? What was Jin up to now? Katsuya grinned. It looked fun! He already knew he was going to put 'panties' next to Yuki's name and 'G-String' for Jin because he's a jerk who deserves to be messed with.

Katsuya placed the survey back into his locker so he could change first.

"Nishino, Do you have any idea what this is about?" Katsuya inquired from the changing room.

"Not sure. I got here not too long before you arrived. I bumped into Shindou leaving though and he said to not tell our bosses about this. It's supposed to be some secret monthly fun survey for employees only," Susumu replied.

"Why tonight though? Is everyone going to come back for the results or something? It seems a little hasty. Jin wasn't even in during the evening so how was this going to work?" Katsuya poked his head out from the change room. "Hey help me tie this apron on will ya?"

"Sure." Susumu nodded. "And I really don't know. I guess they are. Everyone's kind of excited to know the results." He helped Katsuya tie his apron and then patted him on the shoulder. "I'm curious to find out what everyone thinks I wear."

"I'll be sure to write 'commando' for you." Katsuya grinned.

Susumu laughed and headed to the stairs. "See you downstairs, buddy."

"See ya."

* * *

An hour of his shift has passed and Katsuya was starting to get a little bored and irritated. It wasn't because there was nothing to do; Saturday nights tend to be busy but catering to customers can get a little boring. This was especially true since Katsuya started having spy adventures with Seto—everything else just pales in comparison. He really didn't think he could do this kind of work for life and he really felt this way when he's trying not to flip off at rude, selfish and spoiled customers.

Rude customers—this was exactly what Katsuya was dealing with right now and it was irking him to no end. He became really good at maintaining a 'professional' smile now since Mai beat etiquette into him but he was still the rough and rude Jounouchi Katsuya his friends all knew and love, so in the back of his mind, he was cursing and telling them off. As much as he loved his co-workers, days like this just makes him wish he wasn't in the service industry.

"What do you mean Seiichi has to go _now_?" the current customer sitting in front of Katsuya shrieked.

"I'm sorry, Miss but Sekimoto is booked completely tonight"—_every night actually_, he mentally added. "You only reserved him for an hour so now he has to tend another customer," Katsuya explained.

"Seiichi and I are in the middle of a conversation right now! I am a regular here! You can tell the bitch who's next to wait another 10 minutes can't you?" The customer who looked like she was in her late 20s turned to Seiichi, no longer wearing her mad-bitch face. "Seiichi, darling, please stay?"

Seiichi smiled but it wasn't his usual charming smile...it appeared to be slightly forced? Of course Katsuya only noticed this because he knew Seiichi well. Anyone else wouldn't have picked it up.

"Ayako, you can't yell at Jounouchi like that; he's only the messenger."

The customer, apparently named Ayako, flushed and pouted. "But, Seiichi! I just don't want to share you! Why can't you just accept my offer and leave this type of work? I can afford to take care of you so you'll never have to work again," she whined.

_Oh boy_. Katsuya imagined himself rolling his eyes since he wasn't allowed to act on it. She was another one of those possessive rich female customers. Seiichi just keeps getting these types of customers. Although they were troublesome, Katsuya couldn't help but feel a little bad for these girls who fall 'prey' to some of the hosts here sometimes. They fell so deeply in love and occasionally to the point of delusion.

"I'm flattered, Ayako. You're sweet but I couldn't do that to you. I'm a man so I must make my own living," the host explained.

Ayako looked like she was on the verge of tears but Katsuya only glanced at his watch, getting impatient. Seiichi really needed to wrap this up or else Katsuya was going to feel the wrath of the subsequent customers when he tries to explain why Seiichi was late and why they would be losing five minutes with the host because of it.

Seiichi seemed to notice the plead in Katsuya's eyes and said, "how about I talk to Mai about letting you book me for two hours instead of one like everyone else next time, sweetie? I have to go now before Jounouchi here gets into more trouble, you know?" Seiichi smiled again and chuckled. "We wouldn't want that now would we?"

_Reeeally doubts she cares, Sekimoto_, Katsuya thought.

Ayako remained silent so Seiichi grabbed her chin lightly and tilted it up to face him.

"Hey," he said smoothly, "I'm going to miss you too but we gotta do what's right."

Ayako blushed deeply. "Y-Yes. Okay, Seiichi," she stammered.

"Good. I hope to see you again soon." Seiichi gave her a light peck on her cheek before leaving the table.

"Is there anything else you would like, Miss?" Katsuya offered.

"No, just the bill."

"Alright." He walked off to catch up with Seiichi, glad Ayako was finally calm.

Once he caught up to Seiichi, he whispered, "you know, you shouldn't lead them on too much like that."

"I know..." Seiichi replied sadly, "but what else can you do? You don't want to lose them but you also don't want to keep feeding them too hard. I'm glad most of the customers aren't like this." He sighed.

"If it gets too fanatical, we're gonna to have to get Mai to set things right again. I swear, Sekimoto, you need to stop looking so hot or all the men in the world are going to be single because of you."

Seiichi blushed like he always did when Katsuya complimented him.

"Okay, go to your next customer before I get my ass in trouble."

The table Seiichi headed to seated a gorgeous woman and a man who looked very familiar to Katsuya. Where has he seen that face before? He couldn't put his finger on it.

_Hmm..._

* * *

"Oh my god, I know now." Katsuya's head suddenly shot up from his arms on the desk. He was tired so he had decided to rest during his short break. "That man is Yamamoto Kenji!" He remembered seeing him on the news and such. What was Yamamoto Kenji, the owner of YamamotoCorp doing here?

Everyone in the break room, which was a few kitchen staff members, was staring at Katsuya, surprised at the sudden outburst.

"S-Sorry, just talking to myself," he explained.

Should he tell Seto? If he recalled correctly, Yamamoto Kenji was Seto's primary suspect for the stealing incidents occurring in KaibaCorp so maybe he should. But maybe he shouldn't since it looked more like Eimei was the culprit now. Also, what good would informing Seto that Yamamoto Kenji came into Amaranthine be?

Maybe he could ask Seiichi what was 'discussed' during that particular hosting period. Seiichi always had a soft spot for him it seemed so he might break the 'customer privacy policy' if that's what Katsuya wanted. He just couldn't help but feel very curious with this coincidence. What are the chances of this happening? And imagine how proud Seto would be if he actually discovered something useful for him.

Okay, wait. He shook his head. Why would he care if Seto was proud of him or not? He wasn't some puppy trying to get his master's praise. He should just forget about this whole thing. What could he possibly gather from a conversation in a host club?

* * *

It was finally the end of his shift. Katsuya was helping the other waiters clear off the tables of the last set of customers and wiping them clean. Ugh. Some of these customers are such pigs; they left such repulsive messes on their tables and even on the chairs sometimes.

At the instant Katsuya finished cleaning the last table, someone jumped onto him and tackled him onto the booth in front of him. Katsuya yelped and turned to look at his attacker who was guffawing like a maniac.

"Jin Jin! This is not funny! You could've killed me!" He threw his cleaning rag at Jin's face as payback.

"That's disgusting!" Jin stopped laughing and hurled the offending cloth into a nearby bin for soiled rags.

"I'm sorry. I thought that's where the dirty rags went."

"Oh you are so going to regret that." Jin grinned. "We all know you're ticklish, Katsu."

Horror overlaid Katsuya's face. "Hey there, handsome-person-who-can-take-a-joke. I've missed you." He laughed uneasily but practically squeaked when Jin smirked. "Get off me!"

"No," was all Jin said before grabbing Katsuya's waist and giving him a tickle attack.

Katsuya screamed, laughed and squirmed under Jin. "N-N-Noooo! I-aha-hate you, Jin Jin!"

Jin stopped his attacks after a minute when he heard Isamu laughing and shouting "get a room".

"Don't be jealous," replied Jin to the comment when he finally got off Katsuya.

The blond was coughing now from the excessive amount of laughter. He wished he could return the favour but Jin wasn't ticklish.

"Are you here for the survey results, Jin Jin?"

"Yeah and it seems like the others from the morning shift are just arriving."

"You are messed up, man."

"No one believed me, but I didn't make up that survey."

"Add me to the list of non-believers." He grinned.

"I'm serious. I mean I did come up with the idea to do a monthly survey but that wasn't the topic I was going to print off. Someone else did this and put my name on it." He then smiled mischievously. "But whoever did this is fricken brilliant."

"Who else would do something like this? Only you."

"As much as I'd love to take credit for this one, it really wasn't me. If it was me, I wouldn't make everyone come back to work just to see the results. _Come on_, some of us don't want to be at work all day."

When Jin put things that way, it did sound like he wasn't the one who made the survey. Jin wouldn't deny credit for something like this too.

"Well it doesn't matter. I'm going to head upstairs and tally the results. Can you tell everyone to wait down here?" Jin decided.

"You're lucky that Kurata left a little earlier today."

Katsuya walked over to where the rest of the hosts and employees were congregating.

"Hey, Jounouchi," a few of them said.

"Hey. Jin Jin said to wait down here for him. He's gone upstairs to tally the results."

Seiichi excused himself from a conversation with Isamu and walked over to where Katsuya was standing, next to Amaranthine's piano. "Do you need a ride home later, Jounouchi?" he offered.

"That would be great." He wanted to ask Seiichi about Yamamoto Kenji but it was probably better if he got him away from Amaranthine to discuss the matter. Maybe he could slip it in during the car ride but he didn't really live very far away from Amaranthine meaning he'd have to get all the information he required in five minutes _and_ be discreet about it. It might be a little strange but... "Sekimoto are you busy after work?"

"Uh...no, why?" He appeared slightly taken aback.

Well this was kind of awkward. "Well I just suddenly really wanted to do something after work. I haven't hung out with a friend this late for a long while and I thought maybe we could do something for an hour. We could grab a drink or something. Non-alcoholic of course." He hoped he sounded convincing enough.

Seiichi smiled softly. "That would be lovely but I don't think there are many places still open at this hour that serve only non-alcoholic drinks."

"Oh. T-That's true." Katsuya rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Although I _can_ make you a smoothie or something back at my apartment if you'd like." He chuckled.

"If you drive me home after then I'm up for it."

"Results are in!" Jin exclaimed as he descended the stairs from the break room.

The group cheered excitedly.

"Whoever made this survey: I love you but I have one compliant. Why would you leave the bosses out? Mai is too hot to exclude."

"Hurry and tell us the results!" one of the waiters cried.

"Jeeze. Hold onto your panties, guys. The most popularly believed to be worn undergarment for Aikawa Isamu is..." He paused for suspense. "...briefs."

"Booo! That's boring," someone said.

"I agree. There was however, one hilarious response. Someone wrote 'a jockstrap because he gets his balls kicked by customers all the time'."

"Not cool, bro. That only happened once," Isamu protested while everyone was laughing.

"Nishino Susumu: boxers, me: come on seriously, guys? A thong? Really? You all either wrote 'T-back', 'G, V or C-string' or just plain 'thong'."

"You know it's true," Katsuya cried out between laughs.

"Sekimoto Seiichi: briefs, Yuki: unanimously panties."

Yuki, who was standing in a corner with his arms crossed, flushed. "Fuck you all."

"Tsk tsk. Such a dirty mouth, Yuki," Jin replied.

Jin continued to announce the results for rest of the list, humouring the group at the same time with his 'commentary track'. Laughter and chatter filled the room each time a result was read.

"So boxers eh, Katsu?" Jin was done his part and headed straight to Katsuya and Seiichi.

"Actually I'm wearing a red thong."

Seiichi's eyes widened and he felt his cheeks heat up.

Jin was equally surprised and peered at Katsuya's ass, as if he'd somehow see it that way.

"I'm joking. Stop looking at my ass." Katsuya laughed. "The survey is right."

"Suuure... No take backs." Jin waggled his eyebrows jokingly, earning a punch on his arm from Katsuya.

"Hey! I was going to offer you a ride home but I guess you can just crawl home instead," Jin said as he rubbed his arm.

"Thanks but Sekimoto beat you to it."

"Oh? I can drive you though since it'd be in the same direction. It'd be more 'on the way'."

"I'm dropping by his place for a bit so it's alright. Thanks, Jin Jin."

"At this hour? Don't you two have work tomorrow? Especially you, Katsu. You have to get up quite early to deliver papers don't you?"

"It's just one night." He totally forgot about that. He'll just have to take a nap after his delivering job. "I'll be fine."

Jin turned to Seiichi. "You haven't been drinking right?"

"Never when I drive to work. I only get female customers and they tend to be more understanding over the issue."

"Can I join in whatever you're doing?"

"Oh...I rather just have this be between Sekimoto and I. We rarely hang out one on one ya know?" Katsuya wasn't sure if this whole thing was a good idea anymore but he'll do it for Seto. He would've waited to ask another day if he wasn't afraid that Seiichi might forget anything Yamamoto Kenji said.

Jin looked at Katsuya and then back at Seiichi.

"Well, alright. Seiichi, you go start your car up or whatever. I need to talk to Katsu in private." He scooted Seiichi to the door.

Jin's strange behaviour perplexed Seiichi but he left without complaint.

"Katsu."

"Yes?" Katsuya raised a brow.

"Do you know about it?"

"Do I know about what?"

"You know... about Seiichi."

"Okay, you need to stop beating around the bush." He frowned.

"Never mind." He took out his cellular phone and handed it to Katsuya. "Here take my cell phone, I know you don't have one."

"Why?"

"I'll be at home so if you need me for anything, give me a call."

"Okay, you're creepin' me out, dude."

"I just want to make sure you're safe and that you make it home." Jin knitted his brows. "Okay, I know this sounds weird but just do as I say alright?"

"I can take care of myself, dude. I can beat you in a fist fight and you know it. And why are you acting like you're my mom or something?"

"Alright, I'm sorry. Call me superstitious but I just have this bad feeling okay? Humour me will ya?"

"Fine." He was still not convinced. Jin was being suspicious.

"Do I get to keep your phone then?" he joked.

"Just for tonight. I'll pick it up tomorrow."

"Is there something about Sekimoto I should know about? We've both known him and hung out with him for the same amount of time. He's a nice guy so why do you make it sound like he's going to kill me or something?"

"I'm not worried about him hurting you. If anything I'm worried you'll beat the crap out of him and I'd have to come bail you."

"I'm not going to beat Sekimoto. Where are you getting these strange ideas from?"

Jin sighed. "I'm probably just over-thinking. Just forget what I said."

"Now I'm going to be on my guard all night for no god-damn reason. Are you just messing with me again?"

Jin became silent. He was conflicted; he wasn't sure if he should tell Katsuya or not.

"Jin?" He hasn't called him that since they made up nicknames for each other.

"Sorry."

"What's wrong?"

"I just don't know what your stance is and after what happened last week..." He shifted his weight.

"My stance? Last week?"

"If your friend Yugi... If he was... gay. How would you react?"

Katsuya's jaw fell slightly. "Oh my god. Are you gay?" Jin was the straightest guy he knew! Or so he thought.

"No. Answer the question."

"It wouldn't matter. Yugi is Yugi no matter what. He'll still be my friend and I'll still fight for him. I would defend him from anyone who'd try to harm him."

Jin smiled. "I worried for nothing then."

"Sekimoto's gay?"

"I never said that."

"Then this conversation makes no sense." He was getting frustrated.

"You just didn't hear it from me."

"So you thought just 'cause we were gonna be alone, Sekimoto was going to make some move on me and I'd freak out and punch him out like some homophobe? I'm offended."

"No, that's not—well, yes... okay, I'm sorry! How can I know how you felt about these things? And you always tend to answer everything with your fists, Katsu."

"Just like how I should've answered this one. You could've just asked."

"It's a sensitive issue."

"Jin Jin, I don't know _your_ stance but I'm pretty sure that just because someone isn't straight, doesn't mean they're going to jump on everyone of their gender when they're alone."

_But the issue is that he likes __you__, Katsu!_ Jin just couldn't say it.

Last week, Jin noticed that Seiichi was feeling dejected so he went out for a couple of drinks with him after work. Things were fine at first but he didn't know how much Seiichi already had drank during his shift and things got a little carried away.

Seiichi didn't remember anything the next day since he was pretty wasted. He ended up telling Jin his secrets. It was amusing to Jin at first until Seiichi started mumbling Katsuya's name in grief.

When he brought Seiichi back home, the drunken man had mistaken Jin for Katsuya and started nibbling on him, clinging onto him and whispering things to him. Jin felt bad for his fellow host. It had to suck to have all these bottled up emotions he wasn't allowed to act on. From how Seiichi acted that night, Jin wasn't sure if he wasn't going to burst suddenly and pounce on Katsuya. That's why he was worried tonight. If Seiichi went home with Katsuya at this hour, if he takes a few drinks and does anything stupid, who knows how Katsuya was going to react.

"Don't be mad and that's not what I think." Jin brushed his hair back with his hand. "Look, I'll buy you ice cream or something as an apology. I'll bring it over tomorrow when I pick up my phone."

Katsuya fought back his grin. "Fine. It better be a bucket of one of those fancy flavours."

"Deal."

* * *

"Your roommate's asleep? Katsuya stepped into the apartment and hung his coat where he was told to.

"Been that long since you've been over eh? He moved out a few months ago since he got a girlfriend," Seiichi explained.

"Oh? No one else wants to room with ya?"

Seiichi laughed. "I didn't put up an ad since I make a good amount at Amaranthine now. I can afford the whole place and I appreciate the peace on school nights."

Katsuya nodded. It made sense.

"Why don't you wait here and occupy yourself with whatever you want while I go make you that smoothie. Let me guess, you'd like a mango-strawberry smoothie?"

"Hell yeah. That's my favourite. How'd you know?"

"You mentioned it once before."

"Can I go in your room?"

"Yeah, sure."

As Seiichi left into the kitchen, Katsuya entered the bedroom. His eyes widened slightly as he looked around. Man, it was messy; books, papers and clothing were all over the floor and the desk. This room either screamed 'single male student with no time' or 'a hurricane just struck this area'. Katsuya wasn't the neatest person on the planet but he still kept his room clean. It was one of the few things his dad cared about and would scream at Katsuya to do during high school. Actually, he screamed at him to clean the entire apartment.

He looked over at the photos on Seiichi's desk and the ones hanging on the wall above it. Most of them were group family photos but a few of them were of the Amaranthine gang and even one with him and Seiichi alone.

"Here you are," Seiichi said, holding out a tall glass of mango-strawberry smoothie. He made himself one too.

Katsuya turned around. He didn't even notice Seiichi entering. "Your room is a mess."

"Yeah..." Seiichi rubbed the back of his head. "I kind of forgot about that when you asked if you could come in here."

"Haha. It's alright." He took a sip from the smoothie and made an appreciative moan. "Oh my god, this is so good. Thanks man."

Seiichi grinned. "You're welcome."

They sat down next to each other on the bed.

"It must be tough to live alone."

"I'm used to it. It's better than coming home to yelling." His parents didn't get along with him. They used to treat him like their greatest trophy in life as Seiichi was the top of his classes, attractive, and musically talented. Everyone was jealous of them for having such a son. All of this changed when they found out about his sexuality.

"Speaking of yelling... you never get yelled at by any of our customers." Katsuya wished he was that lucky. "But I guess all those ladies are too smitten by your charm to ever get mad at you."

"Yeah, but most customers don't yell at us. I can't speak for the occasional rare male customers though."

"Earlier today, you had a man as a customer didn't you?"

"Nope. They're always female."

Katsuya just realized the irony; the top female-charmer of Amaranthine was gay.

"But I remember seeing a man at a table you were at. It was one of Kurata's tables."

"Oh... there was a man there but he wasn't my customer. That one was a pain to sit through."

"Why? What happened?"

"I don't think I should say..."

"I think I recognize him. Wasn't he Yamamoto Kenji, owner of YamamotoCorp?"

"Well... I think that's what my customer called him. I can't remember his family name but he was definitely named Kenji."

"I'm a huge fan of YamamotoCorp!" He lied.

"Really?"

"Well, anyone in the gaming world really but I'm still a fan."

Seiichi smiled. "I have a 'This-Game' we can play on." (2)

"Maybe another night. I just want to talk tonight." He would really rather play but it was almost midnight and he needed to fish information out from Seiichi while it was fresh. Somehow.

"You sure? I have a great Duel Monsters fighting game."

Damn. He was tempted but he had to refuse for Seto's sake.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said most regrettably. "Tell me why it was weird hosting Yamamoto Kenji instead."

"Well I wasn't hosting _him_. He was just there to talk to my customer. They were kind of arguing so it was awkward sitting there and listening to them while trying to work."

"Business meeting? Arguing game ideas?" He tried to sound excited. It must have been convincing enough since it made Seiichi chuckle.

"Actually, no."

"What were they talking about?"

"It's kind of private so... Why do you want to know?"

"Fanboy's curiosity and I like listening to odd work stories. I won't tell a soul, I promise. Come on, man. For me?"

The host's eyes softened. "Okay."

Katsuya grinned. _Success!_

"From what it seemed like... my customer, Noriko, used to date this man. He was trying to get her back but she refused. I was sitting there listening to them argue over it and I was pretty much there to make him jealous."

"How'd you host her like that?"

"Tried to pretend he wasn't there but at the same time not interrupting anything. She claimed he took up all her time with me so she made him pay for my services too."

"Nothing about business came up at all?"

"Well, the man's argument as to why she should return to him was because since his father had passed away, he now owned the most shares to his father's corporation. I think she left him before because he wasn't ambitious enough, had some problems and his company wasn't the best—just high standards I guess."

"Problem?"

"She said something about being tired of his sick paperclip fetish and he corrected her that he was just slightly obsessive-compulsive so it wasn't a fetish."

Well that wasn't what he needed.

"Apparently his company had to be number one before she'd date him again," Seiichi continued. "He said it would be soon because of a new project he was working on, but she didn't believe him."

"Wow. Why would he even want to be with some woman who wouldn't love him for anything other than his money and status?"

"I guess... you just can't help who you fall in love with." There was a hint of despair in his voice.

Why did Seiichi's eyes look so sad? There were rumours going around that Seiichi had been down lately but he never actually saw it. It always looked like the world was only beautiful in his eyes. Maybe those rumours were true after all. Not realizing it, he placed a caring hand on Seiichi's free hand, causing the host to flinch.

"Jounouchi?" He stared into Katsuya's eyes.

"I've heard that you were looking down lately. It's hard for me to believe that since you're always smiling." He squeezed his hand lightly. "But right now you do look a little down."

Seiichi suddenly pulled him into an embrace, throwing him off completely.

Whoa. He has had hugs before with other guys of course but never with Seiichi. Felt a little awkward but he returned it lightly, carefully placing down his smoothie on Seiichi's desk before doing so.

"You alright, man?" It was almost a whisper.

"Yeah, sorry." Katsuya wasn't protesting so Seiichi tightened the hug.

"Tell me what's wrong."

He paused and then exhaled deeply. "There's this person I like who would probably never return my feelings."

"The great host of Amaranthine? No," he said in mock horror, causing Seiichi to chuckle.

"Not great enough I guess."

"Do they even know?"

Seiichi shook his head.

"Well then how can you know? You should at least try."

"...I can't."

"Are they taken?"

"Jounouchi, do you remember how we met?" He changed the subject.

"Yeah. You were having an interview with Mai and I walked in her office to ask for my schedule to be changed. She got mad at me for not knocking."

Seiichi laughed softly. "The interview barely started when you walked in. Mai asked you what you thought of me and you said, 'He's really cute'." He blushed lightly. "And then she hired me on the spot."

"Was only speaking the truth and looks were her most important criteria."

"Most guys wouldn't say that about other guys."

The hug started feeling less awkward for Katsuya and instead, felt kind of nice. Seiichi was comfortably warm.

"Whoever it is you like, Seiichi, I hope it works out." He didn't know if what Jin said was true but if it was, then Seiichi's state was understandable.

Seiichi buried his face into Katsuya's shoulder. "Thank you," he whispered.

* * *

**Notes:** If you're interested, I posted a few of the "filled in surveys" the characters did on my FFnet profile page. You can see what Katsuya and some of the others wrote there.

Whew. I hope that wasn't too terrible. Now that I'm finally done this chapter...time to disappear for another three years before chapter 11! Okay, okay, I'm kidding. I hope I don't disappear again. XD;

* * *

(1) In case you forgot or didn't know: in Japan, people generally call each other by their last name unless if they are really close.

(2) In case you forgot: 'This-Game' is the name of YamamotoCorp's gaming console.


	11. The One Who Liberated The Angels

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

**Warnings:** Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.

**Notes: **Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.

I forgot to say in the last chapter… Thanks for all the reviews, everyone. I am sorry if I never responded to your review. I can't remember who I've responded to and who I haven't.

I'm really grateful for every review I get for this fanfic. It really keeps me motivated to finish this story every time I see one pop up in my inbox. Thank you everyone who continues to support this story. It means a lot to me.

**The One Who Liberated The Angels**

Katsuya's father always loved it when Katsuya wasn't working a night shift. He loved coming home to the wonderful aroma of whatever his son was whipping up in the kitchen for dinner. He never ate well on the days he had to feed himself.

He dropped his bag and jacket on the couch before walking into the kitchen.

"I'm home," he hollered.

"Welcome home, Dad. How was work?"

Katsuya's father peered over his son's shoulder to see what he was making. Oh yum. Tonkatsu. (1) His stomach started to growl just from looking at it.

"Busy. One of our higher-ups got sacked so they're looking into a replacement for him. At the meantime we all have to do his share of the work."

"Sucks," Katsuya replied as he finished breading a pork cutlet and began frying it.

"Matsuo's going to be here soon?"

"Yeah. Go take a shower. I still have a lot of cooking to do."

Taking his son's advice, he left the room.

* * *

The rice was done and sitting in the cooker, the soup was ready and the tonkatsu were prepared properly. Things were going well so far. Katsuya was excited as he rarely had friends over for dinner.

He had wanted to make his favourite curry and rice dish but his father had told him yesterday that he had too much of it lately. How can anyone ever have _too_ much curry and rice? It was the best thing in the world. He could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner all week and still love it.

To Katsuya, dinner was the most important time of the day, so it was important to make sure everyone enjoyed what they were eating. Hence he decided to make a regular meal, ichiju-sansai, today. (2) There would always be other chances to make Seto sample his best Jounouchi-styled curry and rice after all. He hoped Seto would be alright with a plain commoner's homemade meal. He assumed the wealthy man rarely ate this sort of meal which hopefully would mean that he wasn't sick of it.

Just as he started to prepare the spinach, his doorbell chimed. He quickly dried his hands and went to open the door.

"Hey, you're early." He grinned. "I'm still cooking but have a seat."

"I brought over some fruits." Seto held up a basket containing apples, grapes and pears.

"Oh, sweet. You didn't have to. Thanks." He took the gift and placed it down on their only table.

Seto gave Katsuya a questioning look. He hoped the puppy realized he only brought a gift to stay in character.

"I have to go back to the food so just keep yourself busy." He handed Seto the television remote and left. Seconds later he trotted back into his small living room with a cup of tea. "I forgot." He placed the tea on the table and left again.

* * *

Seto was sitting quietly on the couch, not really paying attention to the news station he had on. He didn't even touch the cup of tea that was sitting in front of him. He wondered what Katsuya was making. Katsuya had mentioned that he wanted him to try his curry and rice before but he didn't smell any curry.

It had been a while since he had a proper 'homemade' meal; he didn't count the two times Katsuya made him food since it was delivered. Since he never really learned to cook because he had servants for that kind of thing, living alone as Matsuo with no servants to help him meant he had been mostly eating out or ordering take-out. Between the Kaiba brothers, only Mokuba knew a little since he would get curious when he mingled with the kitchen staff.

Katsuya's father suddenly appeared in the room so Seto turned his 'Matsuo' on and greeted him politely.

"Oh, you're here, Matsuo. The boy's still making the grub."

"That's alright. I arrived a tad bit early."

"So how are you? Did you just come from work?"

Seto nodded. It was also his last day of work at Hayasa. "Yes and I'm fine." As always, one of the down sides of being Matsuo was putting up with small talk. God, he hated it, but he forced himself to do it anyway. "How are you?"

"Good. Still alive." He sat down on the other end of the couch. "What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm the head of the programming department at Hayasa."

"Wow. Big money then?" Katsuya's father was impressed.

"Not really." He wasn't being modest but it seemed to be taken that way judging by the father's smile. His pay really was insignificant to him.

"So tell me... Katsuya won't tell me anything. Are you dating my boy?"

A choking cough could be heard from the kitchen.

"We aren't going out, Sir," Seto replied.

"No? Too bad. But you like him right? I can see it in your eyes when you look at him," he whispered.

Seto wasn't sure if he should confirm or deny it. What would Matsuo even say in this situation?

Katsuya's dad grinned, very similar to how Katsuya grins. He was dumb but he wasn't stupid. He knew it the moment he saw Seto look at his son. He was young once; he knew what love did to a person and he recognized those love struck eyes Seto had when he saw his boy. It was subtle, carefully hidden, but it was there. "You're not denying it."

"I do," he admitted quietly. He convinced himself that he was answering as Matsuo but his heart felt bothered. He took a sip from his tea finally, hoping it'd soothe him.

"You don't have to worry. My son is at least bi-curious."

"Dad, I can hear you from the kitchen!" Katsuya yelled.

Seto almost choked on his tea. His eyes widened. "_Wh-What?_"

Katsuya's dad laughed loudly. "I can tell by the way he's been grooming himself."

_So it was just an assumption._ Seto felt disappointed.

"I do that for my job!" Katsuya protested.

"What kind of waitering job asks for perfect nails?" he yelled back.

"You're stereotyping! This is like saying all the guys at my workplace is gay!"

"Well, _aren't they_?"

"No!" Katsuya's voice was filled with disbelief. "Dad, that's offensive! You're probably offending Matsuo!"

"Am I offending you?" He turned to Seto.

Seto did indeed find it offensive but he shook his head.

"He's not bothered and why would it be offensive to be gay?"

"Not being gay! It's you stereotyping them that is offensive!"

"Well you told me the guys at your workplace spend time with beautiful women all day but they don't bang them!"

"That's called being a gentleman, Dad!"

It was against Amaranthine's rules to trade for sexual favours but what the hosts did during their personal life is their own private choice and Katsuya wouldn't know of it. But as far as their job goes, they didn't do such things.

"But it wouldn't matter if they were right?"

Katsuya finally came into the room with a stack of plates for the table. "Of course." Poor Seto. He must have felt really uncomfortable at the moment. _Stupid Dad._

"See? I raised him right."

Seto forced a smile and nodded. He wasn't really paying attention anymore and was watching Katsuya set up the table in front of him. He decided he liked seeing Katsuya in an apron.

"Matsuo is leaving Domino soon, Dad," he stated before leaving into the kitchen again to grab the dishes he made.

"Really? Why?"

"My mother is really sick so I am moving back home to be with her." Seto placed the fruit basket aside so Katsuya had room to place the food.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Where's your home?" the father asked.

"America."

"Always wanted to go there. Are you going to return?"

Seto shook his head. "My flight is scheduled for tomorrow at ten in the morning. I was never going to stay here forever. I only came to Domino to soul search. I intended to stay longer but my mother needs me."

"That's too bad. My son would probably miss you."

Katsuya didn't even know what to say. Seto was fooling his old man good. He was amused. He finally finished setting the table and joined them, sitting on a free mat in front of the table.

The other two got off the couch and joined Katsuya on the floor, with each of them taking one side of the table.

"There's always the internet. Right, Katsuya?" Seto said.

"Uh, yeah… I guess." He rarely used his computer but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to Seto with it when he's in America. But knowing the CEO, he probably wouldn't even reply. Come to think of it, he didn't even have Seto's personal e-mail address. His public one probably gets filtered by one of his workers like his secretary or something.

Seto stared at the food on the table. It had definitely been a _long_ time since he had a traditional meal.

Katsuya noticed Seto studying his food and the corner of his lips rose into a proud smile.

On the table was one-inch cut strips of tonkatsu, ohitashi and simmered kabocha. Everyone of course had their own bowl of rice, miso soup and some tsukemono. (3)

Seto looked up at Katsuya and smirked. Ichiju-sansai? Katsuya could be a housewife.

"Ohhh! This looks good." Katstuya's father said.

"You probably haven't had this kind of meal in a while so I hope you don't mind," Katsuya said to Seto.

"It looks good," he admitted—for Matsuo of course.

Katsuya beamed. "For dessert we're going to have pineapple-coconut ice cream." Jin had bought it for him.

"Let's eat." they all said at the same time and dug into their meal. (4)

"Did you know, Matsuo? Katsuya used to like playing superhero after his bath and ran away from us whenever we tried to get him to put his clothes back on."

"Dad!" Katsuya flushed a deep shade of red.

His dad ignored him and continued. "He was five and he ran around the whole house naked, toothbrush in hand as a weapon and a towel as a cape."

Seto couldn't even hold back his smirk as he watched Katsuya panic, completely thrown into frenzy.

"Shut up, old man!" Katsuya flailed. How could his dad tell _Kaiba Seto_ of all people these things? His dad was out to embarrass him!

Katsuya's dad roared into laughter. "It was cute. Your ding-dong was so tiny back then and you just ran around like that."

Seto coughed, almost choking on a piece of spinach after the word 'ding dong' was said.

"UWAHHHHH!" Katsuya cried at the same time Seto coughed. He hit his head on the table. Oh my god. He was _so_ sure he had never been _this_ red before in his life. He could feel his cheeks burning. His stupid _stupid_ dad!

"Alright, alright. We can talk about something else."

"Thank you! And don't believe him, Matsuo!" He couldn't even face Seto when he said that.

Seto grinned smugly but then did a Matsuo-chuckle. He loved anything that was potentially blackmailing material. He also loved learning about the 'cute' details of Katsuya's childhood but he'll just pretend that the latter wasn't part of the reason as to why he felt like laughing.

"I remember there was one time when Katsuya was really young and someone mistook him for a girl because his hair was so long."

"Why are we still talking about me?" Katsuya interrupted.

"He got so upset that he wouldn't go to school the next day and hid in his room and cried."

"I didn't cry!"

"He was six I think. Couldn't blame the stranger though. Katsuya was always holding hands with his sister and we were too lazy to get him a haircut."

"Dad, I hate you," he wailed.

Seto was smiling, completely amused. "I don't think you need to worry about that anymore." Yes, Katsuya's body had grown nicely. He may be a little 'pretty' but people definitely can tell that he was a man. A very attractive man.

"Oh, excuse me for a sec. Bathroom." Katsuya's dad left.

Katsuya looked over at Seto who he thought had enjoyed the dinner conversation a bit too much for his liking. He watched him eat briefly, wondering if Seto was pleased with the meal. He just realized that maybe every time Seto said that the food he made was just 'okay', he may not have been lying. If he thought about it, the rich guy probably had the best chefs in the world to prepare him daily meals. There was no way he could compare to a professional chef.

"See something you like?" Seto stopped eating and was looking back at Katsuya now.

"How is the food?" he asked hesitantly.

"It's good." It was great like the other two meals Katsuya made.

"Really?" Katsuya was genuinely surprised; he wasn't really expecting that answer. He was also slightly stunned that Seto was being nice.

Seto nodded once. It hadn't dawned on him how much he missed this sort of meal until now.

"Because I just realized that this type of commoner's meal is probable garbage compared to what your personal chefs could make."

Seto studied Katsuya for a second. He still didn't know how he should act anymore around him. The blond thought they were friends and he wasn't sure if he truly considered Katsuya that.

"It's fine." He honestly would fire his chefs if he could have Katsuya make him food everyday instead.

* * *

They finished eating and Seto expected to leave but Katsuya pulled him aside and told him he had something to talk to him about. Katsuya's father was now watching television alone in the living room and Seto was awkwardly sitting in Katsuya's room, waiting for Katsuya to return from washing the dishes. As Matsuo, he offered to help but luckily Katsuya told him it was alright. He didn't actually want to help. He'd rather just buy him a dishwasher instead or a servant.

It was a good thing he brought his laptop everywhere with him or else he'd really be bored. He had personal plans to make and without his secretary's presence, he had to update his own agenda. Once he returns to America, he'll have to catch up with Kaiba Land's progress and scrutinize the renovations of his mansion. He was also requested to tour a department in Kaiba Corporation's American branch. One of the departments there was complaining about inadequate workspace and wanted an increased budget to renovate and hire needed staff. Since he was conveniently in America, it was the perfect time for them to attempt to get their request approved.

He predicted that the next few weeks were going to be busy so he'll have no time for anything else. He hoped Mokuba was handling everything fine without him. There was a rumour that Kaiba Corporation had halted their work but he couldn't know for sure yet. He'll just have to wait and have faith in Mokuba's abilities.

"Sorry to make you wait." Katsuya walked into his room and closed the door behind him.

"What did you want to tell me?" Seto was kind of glad to be alone with Katsuya. This was the only time he could 'be himself' with another person in the room. After pretending to be another person for so long, it became very tiring.

Katsuya sat down next to Seto on his bed.

"A few days ago, Yamamoto Kenji was at Amaranthine."

"And?" Could Katsuya have found something useful?

"This probably isn't important but I thought I'd tell you anyway. He was talking to his ex, trying to win her back."

Seto frowned. "I don't need your gossip."

"I guess it was dumb to tell you. It just felt weird not to say anything about it since you suspected him and all."

"Was that it? Yamamoto Kenji came into your restaurant to chase some girl?" He was really disappointed now. YamamotoCorp was one of the top gaming companies but they were not number one. Maybe if their chief executive spent less time thinking with his hormones and more over how to improve the company, he'd actually get his company to rise in ranks. Not that he'd ever reign over Kaiba Corporation on the charts. Heh. Seto now felt stupid for the wasted time he spent considering Yamamoto Kenji as the culprit. His father maybe but him? He scoffed internally. From what it sounded like, Yamamoto Kenji was a pathetic man with a clean record and no ambition.

"Well... maybe we can't rule him out completely yet."

"Explain." And it better be good.

"He does have a motive. The woman's condition for her to return to him was that his company had to be number one."

"Oh, please." Seto rolled his eyes. "Everyone wants that." Why else would Kaiba Corporation get attacked?

Katsuya, who'd normally get upset by Seto's attitude, rolled his eyes in return. He was getting immune to all the cold ice Seto threw at people. Maybe this was how Isono dealt with the guy; he was so used to it that his head auto-translated Seto-speak to polite-human.

"What?" he almost snapped. He didn't like Katsuya's reaction.

"Nothing." He shrugged. "If you think it's nothing then it's nothing. Just telling you in case it was useful."

"Whatever." It was true though. Maybe this did mean Yamamoto Kenji had a motive. At least a lot more than Eimei did. His 'uncle', although not biological, wouldn't do this to him would he? But he of all people knew that one should never be so naive in the business world. Betrayal was common so anything was a possibility.

Katsuya looked a little annoyed. He had been smiling all evening and all it took was pulling off the Matsuo-mask to wipe off the grin on the puppy's face.

"Can I ask you something?" Katsuya leaned a little closer to Seto so he could speak more quietly.

"You always have a lot of questions." His brow furrowed.

"Yeah, 'cause unless I ask, you never tell me anything."

"Go on."

"Are you going to keep that promise and play me in a game of Duel Monsters when you get back?"

"I don't remember promising you that."

"You did. At the park remember?"

"No." He crossed his arms.

"Come on now! You better contact me when you get back!"

Seto didn't reply, still frowning.

Katsuya was sure Seto was going to get permanent wrinkles between his brows soon from all the frowning he did. "Come on..." He placed a hand on Seto's arm and whispered, "...Kaiba..."

Seto's heart, to his dismay, began to beat faster. He didn't remove Katsuya's hand like he normally would have. It felt like an electric pulse was jolting through his body from where Katsuya was touching him. His eyes widened slightly for a second but he quickly narrowed them again, gaze fixed on Katsuya. He still hated this feeling. It always occurred when Katsuya was up close and the feeling was always amplified when there was physical contact. He hated it so much he wanted to slam Katsuya against the wall and... _Fuck!_ He was sexually frustrated now. He had to do something about it!

"I have a question for _you_ now." He'll probably feel better after he teased the blond mercilessly.

"What?" His voice was so innocent. Katsuya returned his arm to his side and Seto felt relieved.

"What's that box of makeup doing in your room?" He smirked and pointed at the obvious cosmetics set sitting on Katsuya's desk.

Katsuya's face reddened and Seto was sure he'd never get tired of seeing him heat up like that.

"I-It's not mine! It's for Shizuka!" He should've hid it!

"I'm sure it is," he said sarcastically.

"This coming from the person who's wearing makeup right now!" He formed a fist with his hand and held it up.

Seto glared. "You know why I'm wearing it."

"What are you exactly?" Katsuya had been wondering lately after finding out Seiichi's sexuality. What exactly was Seto's preference? He always thought the guy was asexual or liked robots or something. "Straight? Gay? Bi? I know Matsuo is gay but what about you?"

"It's not your business." He looked away. "It doesn't matter. I have no time for relationships."

"I guess... I always figured you'd build yourself a wife one day." He laughed. "No human would be able to put up with your moods after all."

_Hmm..._ He never thought of that. Build himself a bonkotsu... Wait, never mind. That would be considered too disturbing.

"Let me show you something." Katsuya got up from his bed but stumbled and almost tripped if a pair of strong hands didn't catch him.

Seto looked at him with concern for a second. It seemed like Katsuya was _way_ too accident prone.

"I'm alright. Thanks." He laughed and stood up.

"Hn." He pretended not to care.

"A new Duel Monsters set came out yesterday." He held out an opened booster packet. "Did you know?"

Seto smirked. "There's already a box waiting for me at home." His people knew what to do when new cards came out.

"Damn lucky bastard."

Seto was reading the cards now. Most of them weren't very impressive.

Katsuya smiled. He thought he saw a small smile on Seto's face when he was going through the cards. The guy probably didn't even notice that he was smiling. "Miss playing?"

He did a little. "Miss making you cry when I win."

"I don't cry when I lose, you jerk." Okay so that wasn't really true but the few times he had tears in his eyes wasn't because he lost. A lot was at stake!

"I think your dad is at the door," he whispered and turned his head to gesture at the door.

There was an obvious shadow at the base of the door. Katsuya hit his face lightly with the palm of his hand. Stupid, Dad!

"Get lost, old man!" he cried.

The shadow quickly disappeared.

"Just heading to the bathroom," his dad responded lamely.

"I'm sorry about my dad." Katsuya rubbed the back of his head.

Seto didn't really care.

"Do you ever miss The-Other-Yugi?" Katsuya leaned his back against the wall.

"He was a worthy opponent." He wished he had the chance to properly defeat him. Yugi was a good rival but he still wanted a rematch with the pharaoh.

"Sometimes I miss him," the blond admitted. "All those adventures we went through really changed me."

Seto stared at Katsuya, not sure where he was trying to take the conversation.

"You can't laugh alright? I… The time with him and Yugi really made me see a world I haven't realized existed. And during our last year in high school... near the end of it I realized that I…" He paused.

Seto waited. Was Katsuya confiding in him? Why?

"I want to be a lawyer."

"…"

"…"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Seto kept laughing, not even holding back, as if Katsuya just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

S-Seto was _laughing_? Katsuya was stupefied. Wait a minute… "H-Hey! Fuck you, jerk! I told you not to laugh!" But he didn't really feel mad. Seto was really laughing! It was kind of creepy but also kind of nice. It was too bad the laugh was in Matsuo's voice instead of Seto's.

"Bonkotsu, you barely passed high school and you want to do what?" He stopped himself from laughing, realizing where he was. Again it seemed like Katsuya was lowering his guard.

"Sh-Shut up! I want to help those who've been wronged!" He blushed. "Don't make fun of me!" He tried to punch Seto on the arm but Seto caught the offending limb. Damn his reflexes!

Seto glared. "Why are you telling me this?" He pushed the arm away.

"I-I don't know. I felt like I could trust you. Thanks a lot for believing in me," he said sarcastically. "I never told anyone before. Not even Yugi knew about this."

_Why?_ Why did bonkotsu have to make him feel so complicated inside?

Katsuya was still blushing. "I know I ain't smart but I'm gonna try my hardest." He wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging his legs together.

Seto nodded. He understood. Although the road wouldn't be easy, he knew that if Katsuya had passion in something, he would never give up and will continuously strive to improve immensely in the area.

"I just wish I could go to college. Even Anzu is another step closer to her dreams…" He didn't realize he had said that out loud.

All his friends were going towards some sort of career goal. He had his too but he was the only one who couldn't. At least not yet… Just seeing his friends, one by one, getting closer to their dreams… It just made him feel like he was left behind. He just wanted to tell someone this… someone who wasn't the source of him feeling like he was the only one not walking forward.

Seto wanted to make some snarky remark but he decided against it. His crush was confiding in him… What should he doing? Mokuba would know the answer.

"Am I pathetic?" he asked softly.

"Yes."

Katsuya didn't reply. He just huddled up more tightly.

"…No…" He gave Katsuya a sidelong glance.

Katsuya peered at Seto with a puzzled expression.

"I mean 'yes' in general but no… you're not pathetic…"

Katsuya stifled his laugh, covering his mouth with his hand, eyes shut, trying to hold back from bursting.

"What?"

"Y-You—Pfft—…" He was shaking now.

Was Katsuya just joking this entire time? Kaiba Seto will not be made a fool!

"You just suck so hard."

Seto only frowned in response.

"I like this." He sat closer to Seto and smiled. He felt a foreign but warm feeling in his chest. His body was probably just protesting to the corny scene he was making with Seto.

"Like what?"

"I like it when you're nice to me."

He has changed. He has grown too soft. But he had a choice. He could say something Katsuya would really hate him for or he could keep doing this thing that Katsuya liked. This meant he had to pull the words from deeper inside himself. And for some reason… it didn't even feel uncomfortable for him anymore. Not with Katsuya.

"Don't get used to it," he finally said almost inaudibly.

* * *

"He left?" Katsuya's father came out of his room.

Upon hearing his father's voice, Katsuya turned around to face him. "Yeah, just now. Shouldn't you be asleep, old man?"

"I was but you two just woke me."

"Sorry. I'm going to bed now." He yawned.

"So there's really nothing between the two of you?"

"There's nothing between us." He raised a brow. "Why would you want me to be gay anyways? It's weird. Most parents _want_ grandkids."

"I still have Shizuka. But I just saw something special between the two of you." He just wanted his son to be happy. He didn't care if his boy was straight or not, and he had no right to ask for grandkids—not after being such a lousy father to his boy over the years when Katsuya really needed him most.

"Something special?" he almost stuttered. Did his dad know about the secret mission? There's no way. His dad couldn't be that sharp.

"Don't worry about it and go sleep." He stretched and retreated back into his room.

Maybe he had the wrong feeling but he could tell Matsuo was someone special to his boy. It wasn't exactly similar to Matsuo's feelings but he could discern from son's reactions and expressions that this man was as special to Katsuya as Yugi was but in a slightly different way.

He shrugged and climbed into bed.

He thought there was potential for a budding relationship but if there wasn't then it was fine for him as well. As long as his son was happy.

* * *

It was a bright, beautiful and clear autumn day. Katsuya decided to go for a walk and visit the kids at the park. He was mostly lost in thought, planning his future and thinking about what to make for dinner.

"Jounouchi!" Haruka ran up and hugged his legs suddenly.

He was at the park already? He didn't even notice that he had arrived. Somehow he made it to his destination without paying any attention.

"Hey." He smiled. "How are you today, Haruka?"

"Great! Shinji and Tetsu are playing on the swings." She pointed at them.

"How about Big Brother Jounouchi here give you a piggy back ride over there?

"Yay! I want to ride on your shoulder!"

Katsuya chuckled. "Alright, alright." He lifted Haruka onto his shoulder and made his way over to the swings set.

"Jounouchi!" the two boys exclaimed.

Hikaru was there on the swings too and nodded at Katsuya, acknowledging his presence.

"You guys are playing with Hikaru today?" He was surprised Hikaru wasn't running off like he did last time.

"Hikaru said he was going to be your brother-in-law one day so we asked him if he wanted to play together. We all gotta get along right?" Shinji said.

Katsuya placed Haruka down and ruffled Shinji's hair. "Right." _And keep dreaming, Hikaru._ "Tired of running away from me, Hikaru?"

Hikaru stuck out his tongue. "My father told me that if I wanted to marry Shizuka one day then I'll have to get along with you since we'd be family. I can't avoid you forever. I'll just have to accept that you suck."

_That little brat._ The corner of Katsuya's eye twitched.

"Hey! Don't insult Jounouchi!" Tetsuya exclaimed.

Hikaru folded his arms, not caring.

"It's alright. He doesn't mean it." He'll just take pride in the fact that he wouldn't ever land his sister. At least he _hoped_ his beloved sister wasn't into little boys. Katsuya then faced Hikaru and asked, "Your dad seems like a wise man. What kind of work does he do?"

Hikaru smiled widely. "He is really smart. He is a computer programmer!"

"Really? I know someone who knows how to do that stuff too. Where does he work, Hikaru?" Maybe Hikaru's dad worked for Kaiba Corporation. That would explain why he hated Duel Monsters so much. Maybe Seto worked his staff to the bone and scared them shitless. That would definitely lead to resentment and some sort of twisted hate.

"He's working at Eimei. They make _real_ games."

"R-Really? Wow, that's neat." He wasn't expecting to hear the word 'Eimei'. "I've played some of their games."

Hikaru grinned. "If you come visit Shizuka and I sometime then I could show you all the games I have." He then frowned. "And you should visit Shizuka. She always misses you. Dad taught me that it's ungentlemanly to make a lady travel all the time just to see you."

But he didn't want to see his mom… She didn't like him. "Maybe…"

"Oh, look at those pretty leaves up there!" Haruka suddenly said and pointed up at a tree.

Katsuya looked up and noticed an airplane fly by from the distance. Just looking at the airplane slice through the sky reminded him that Seto was no longer in Domino. It had almost been a week since Seto flew to America and his absence made life feel like it returned back to what it was like prior to the Matsuo-thing for Katsuya. He no longer had to change his schedule for Seto. He was back to his mundane life of trying to pay off bills, helping his dad with the last bit of debt and saving up for college. He still needed to decide which transfer colleges to apply to and he still had to study for the entrance exams. And hopefully one day he will be accepted into Domino University for their law program.

He closed his eyes, listening to Haruka who began to hum the theme song to _Perpetuality_.

Seto was probably busy working away like he always did.

* * *

**Notes:** -crosses fingers- I made a huge gamble in this chapter so I hope I didn't kill anything.

If it seems like enough people want the next chapter... maybe I will sacrifice my gaming-time and finish chapter 12.

I kept the Japanese names for the dishes since even though I could translate everything, it wouldn't be what the dish is really called. What I mean is... I could say so-and-so ate escargot or I could just say they ate snails. Both correct but I would prefer to use the actual name of the dish.

* * *

(1) Tonkatsu is breaded deep-fried pork cutlet. Popular dish in Japan.

(2) Ichiju-sansai is a meal that consists of one soup and three side-dishes. Traditional Japanese meals are named by the number of side-dishes made to accompany the rice. For example, a meal with one soup and one side dish would be called 'ichiju-issai'. The 'i' is from 'ichi', meaning one.

(3) Ohitashi is just boiled spinach (though other leafy-greens may be used) but afterwards drained and soaked cold water. Excess liquid is then removed and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) is usually sprinkled on the top.

Kabocha is known as 'Japanese pumpkin' but is a type of winter squash.

Tsukemono are pickled vegetables.

(4) For those who know: they were saying 'itadakimasu!'


End file.
